FullMetal Heart
by Screwthehype
Summary: Stranded and heavily wounded, he is made into a cybernetic organism, a powerful being, ready to tackle Remnant's problems head on! He's Jaune Arc, and in a quest to restore (and gain) his family's name, he'll have to face some pretty horrifying things across Remnant. But with friends, loved ones, and a steely determination, Jaune is ready. Cover by DARKPHANTOM13.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Ahoy there! I'm back from my small excursion into crossover territory, and I present you all with a new story to read, featuring Jaune of course. This is one of those stories where we start off before Beacon academy, and we slowly and gradually get there, with a bunch of training and meeting up with characters beforehand. Let's see if I can't do better on this than my first attempt...**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned RWBY, no one would want to watch it.**

* * *

"Yo-ho-ho-ho~" In the middle of an ocean, rocking on the azure waves, lay a small boat. The hull was painted beige, with white surrounding the bow and accenting the edges. At the stern of the boat, there was what appeared to be an oversized exhaust pipe extruding from the boat, shaped like a cone, with the larger half facing away from the vessel. Jutting out from near the stern, on both sides of the watercraft, were what looked like a mixture of rubber tires and paddles. Near the bow of the craft was a chain that led into the water, no doubt connected to an anchor. At the prow was a figurehead of a ram.

Sitting in the boat, across from a large pile of small fish, was rather large man and a rather short woman.

The man was big, burly, and tan, with a tattoo of a star and an anchor on his right arm. His cyan hair was shaped into a pompadour, and his triangular shades were nestled neatly on his nose. Covering his upper body was a loose, teal, unbuttoned shirt, and covering his legs were cargo shorts.

The female was a pretty blonde, with sky-blue eyes and a long pony tail underneath a dark-grey bandana. Her body was shapely and fair and petite, and was covered by a light-grey worker's jumpsuit, the top half open and tied around the waist. This exposed her black tank top.

In both of their hands, one pair slightly hairy and the other pair encased in rust-brown leather gloves, they held fishing rods, and where singing and whistling merrily. As he sang, the large man noticed a dark figure, just on the horizon.

"Huh? Oi, I reckon I spy somethin' over thar."

"Really? Let me check." Stowing her rod, the girl took a pair of binoculars from a small box next to her. Leaning over the edge of the boat, she peered into the distance. Focusing the lenses on the binoculars, she gasped at what she saw.

It was a dinghy, small and as brown as the dirt. Unlike their clean and kept boat, the poor thing was in shambles- the wood was slightly rotten, one oar was missing, and the other oar had a bite mark on it. The hull was covered in scrapes, and a few jagged holes where situated all along the vessel- thankfully, they were above water. She noticed something else- what looked like a human arm, bloodied and dangling off the side.

"It looks like somebody's hurt on that boat! Quickly, reel in the anchor, and fire up those paddles!"

"Aye, ma'am!" Grabbing the chain with a huge hand, he quickly pulled it up from the sandy bottom. Placing it on the boat, he pulled a lever near the stern. At once, the paddles at the side of the boat whirled to life. Adjusting a small knob to the left of the lever, the boat started to move, and was quickly accelerating. Shifting the rudder, he angled it so that the duo were lined up with the other boat.

Traveling over the waves, he slowed down the boat, allowing it to drift near the dinghy. The girl, when close enough, looked at the figure that lay inside.

It was a boy. It was naught but a small boy, barely seven years of age. His messy blond hair was matted with blood, with the vermillion fluid sluggishly trickling down his feminine face, which was missing a large portion of skin around a mangled mockery of a right eye. His shirt, whatever color it could have been before, was torn, and was highlighted dark red. His denim shorts were ripped and torn, and, along with his legs, had splotches of mud and dirt on them.

His limbs… the only one that actually looked normal was his right arm, which was splayed at his side. His left arm, the bicep hanging off the side of the dinghy, was broken, and both legs were bent at unnatural angles. There were large, gaping wounds on all four limbs, with one even having a few worms and maggots. Next to his right arm was a classical sword and shield, both brilliantly white and blue, but with small chips on their edges.

Her eyes glowed, and she viewed a different picture- a translucent suit of armor, super imposed on top of the boy. The legs of the armor only made it up to the mid-thighs, the left arm stopped at the shoulder, and the right arm only went to the elbow. There were several holes, small and medium sized, dotting the abdomen and chest of the phantasmic suit. The ghostly helm was missing a large portion of itself around the right side of its face. But still, the armor was there, and from the years of experience she had, that meant he was still living

"Oh gods, he's barely alive!"

"Okay, I'll pick him up 'n place him on th' boat, ye get the sword n' shield! Those things be probably important to th' laddie…" Grabbing the young body, he gently held it in his arms before setting it down in his vessel. The woman, holding the sword and shield in her hands, resisted the urge to examine them right there. After all, the boy needed medical attention.

"Alright, now we need to head back to the ship before-" A dark figure came up from behind the ship, and vaulted out of the water. It was sleek, black, and large, with ivory bone forming a mask over its face. Red eyes, filled with malice and the same shade of blood, were trained on the boy. The figure's huge maw was open, revealing a black hole with several rows of sharp, white, serrated, teeth, with the bone fin on its back sporting a similar serrated edge.

Before it could chow down on the bloody lad, a large wrench whacked it back into the water, where several blade-like fins were jutting out.

"Charodons. We need tah get out 'o here, fast! Hold onto somethin', I be usin' th' engine!" Pushing a big red button on top of the lever, a column of flame suddenly spurted out of the engine, propelling the boat forwards at high speeds. The burly man was able to hold the boy's body still, while also making sure the weapons, their equipment, and their ton of fish were still safely on board. The lady pulled out a small rectangle, which unfolded into a larger, semi-holographic device. After pushing a small button on it, she began to speak into it.

"Mayday, mayday! We're being chased down by a pack of charodons, and we currently have an unconscious and badly wounded child! Please pick us up!" Without waiting for an answer, she collapsed the device, and put it back where it came from. Looking behind them, they could see the pack of predators chasing after them, just a few yards away from the boat. However, a large explosion in the water, right next to the school of fish-like creatures, spooked them and startled to disperse.

Looking ahead, they saw a beacon of hope: a ship with cannons out, a motley crew of people scurrying around, and a lion figurehead at the prow.

* * *

" _Ooh, does it hurt? Come to mommy, dear." In the middle of a verdant lawn, next to a brown dirt road, crouched a young woman, holding a small child in her arms. She wore a pale blue blouse, the same shade as the sky over head, along with an emerald skirt that reached her knees. Her pale, petite hands were cradling a weeping child to her shoulder, her long, dark-yellow hair blending well with the golden mop on the boy's head._

 _After a while, she held him at arm's length, so she could get a better look at him. His shirt, normally a pristine yellow, was mucked up with dirt and mud. His jeans were ripped, exposing the scabbing knees underneath. His arms were covered with bruise, and his right eye was slowly becoming a black eye. His face, as dirty as his shirt, was currently streaked with tears and mucus._

 _She bit back a scream of rage, knowing that her son seeing his mother go on a rampage was not what he wanted. But it was something SHE wanted, every day, for the past few years. Ever since the day her son enrolled in the nearby prep school, he's been coming home beaten and bruised, courtesy of some brats that thought they could pick on HER son just because THEY were bigger, and because THEIR parents never taught them any kindness or manners! It was an affront to her, but she couldn't do much about it._

 _Her husband, despite the love and attention she shows him and he shows her, didn't want to do anything about the situation. Instead, he was more or less annoyed at their SON because he never fought for himself, among other things. Instead, the most she could do as a civilian was steel her soul, offer words of encouragement, and help her child lick his wounds at home. It was infuriating._

" _Hey, come on, look up here." Tilting his face up, the boy stared into the gentle, smiling face of his own mother. Her vibrant smile, her nice, amber eyes… they helped calm him down._

" _Don't worry about Pete or Bob or any of the rest. You are strong. You come from an amazing family, one bound by law to help our littles grow up fine and well, bound by law to free their soul from within. You came from me, a mother who's absolutely delighted that her one and only little boy inherited a kind and gentle heart. You are a blessed boy, one that I am proud to call my son._

 _You are MY son._

 _You are Jaune Arc…"_

* * *

He saw only darkness. Suddenly, however, a light shone, cutting through the dark. Slowly, that light widened, being completely engulfed.

Blinking the bright out of his eyes, Jaune could only look around as he struggled to remember prior events. He was in a rather small and dark room, on top of a table that was cold and metallic. Over his head was a lantern, the source of the infernal brightness. To his right, there lay a monitor with several wires attached to it, showing a line o its screen that would periodically become a small wave. To his left, he saw a small table full of odd tools and implements- hammers, cutters, screwdrivers, etcetera. Even further to his left, the boy could make out a slightly disturbing sight- a mass of robotic body parts, strewn about haphazardly, forming an unrecognizable shape.

He heard a door open. Turning to face his right, he saw a man wearing a maroon lab coat, black slacks and thin-framed glasses enter the room with him. He was relatively tall and fair-skinned, and had dark-brown hair. he Was grumbling to himself about something, and was too preoccupied at looking towards the ground to pay Jaune any attention. After closing the door behind him, he looked up to see the boy awake. He turned around, facing the door, and opened it once more.

"Hey, guys? The patient's awake!" Walking away from the door, he walked over to the boy's side. "Hey there. How're you feeling, kiddo?"

"Uh- I'm-?"

"He is? Allow me to see." Soon enough, another voice and another… scientist?... made its appearance. An elderly, fair and portly man walked through the door, dressed in a brilliant white lab coat, with slacks and shoes bearing the same blinding shade. His big, bushy, grey beard connected to a neatly combed mop of hair on his head. Seeing the child, he bowed his head slightly.

"Why, hello. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Edison Light, and this is an associate of mine, Professor Simmons Maroon of Gulch University, in Vacuo."

"Once again, hello!" With no small amount of wariness, the young blonde lifted his left hand to wave at him as a greeting, but when it entered his field of vision, he was shocked. Instead of the flesh and blood he was used to seeing, he saw plastic and metal. Looking down at his body for the first time, he saw his shiny new legs, along with all the wires leading into and out of his body, various fluids of different colors inside, and a huge amount of missing/ scarred skin.

Shaking and trembling, he turned to face the two doctors, who were watching him with forlorn faces. He was speechless, seeing his own body like this. He slowly lifted up an artificial hand, bringing it to his face. As he attempted to do some familiar movements, he saw how slow and robotic his hand moved, along with the mechanical noises it made.

"Ah… ah… AAHH!" With speed that belied his age, Dr. Light rushed over to the child, and held down his thrashing form's upper body.

"Simmons!"

"On it, Sir!" Quickly, the maroon-coated professor rushed to the elderly man's aid, holding down the lad's lower legs.

"Simmons, put your back into it! Push from your center!"

"Wait, push from my groin? Or that spot between my abs and ribs?"

"The second one!" At that moment, a scientist-like person wearing a rusty-brown coat, sienna slacks and a hat with a very wide brim was walking by the room, having been attracted by the noises.

"Que es- DIOS MÍO! Simmons, Doctor Light!"

"Lopez, thank god! Quick, sedate him! Just enough to get him to calm down!" Running over to a cabinet on the side of the room, the person known as Lopez threw the door open, revealing several chemical bottles and needles and syringes galore. Reading off the labels, he grabbed one and a syringe, and then ran over to the two struggling men. Draining the amount of fluid necessary, he quickly administered the dose to the boy.

As he felt the feeling in his body slowly cease, and as he saw a darkness slowly blocking out the world around him, Jaune fell asleep with only a single thought:

 _Mommy…_

* * *

"Yar! I reckon he be awakenin'."

"The brat's waking up? I need to see."

"Count me in too!"

Stirring from his artificial slumber, the blonde corked an eye open to see a new trio of people in the room. The first was a burly man with teal hair and triangular shades, the second was a petite but shapely blonde woman wielding an oversized wrench, and the last was a balding, overweight man with a long nose and a brown mustache.

Remembering what happened the last time he awoke, Jaune began to panic. Placing his hands in front of him defensively, the giant tried to calm him down.

"Whoa, laddie, whoa! Calm down thar, matey. We mean ye no harm." Despite calming down significantly, he still looked at the three with complete distrust. The girl stepped forward, looking at him sadly.

"We were only trying to save your life. When we found you, floating in the sea, you were hurt really badly." The bald one put a hand to his chin, as if trying to remember something.

"Yes, if I recall, most of your arms and legs were broken, some with terrible infections setting in, with the only one left intact being paralyzed from the elbow down, possibly a spinal injury. Your body was also riddled with burn marks, gashes, places where the skin was apparently _ripped off_ , and several holes where we could literally see right through you. Your right eye was squashed in with part of your face being torn off, revealing only muscle. Your sternum and ribs were _shattered_ , and many of your internal organs were terribly ruptured."

Looking back at the boy, he could see that, alongside a small amount of confusion, he was in shock and fear. Thinking what he could do to allay his fear, he grabbed a random plate of chicken nuggets, and presented it before the lad. "Do you want some nuggets?"

"Oxblood! That was rude and uncalled for."

"We would have had to tell him eventually, better now than later."

"Aye, th' first part, 'tis true, but th' second? He be but a lad!"

"Oh phooey, do you think I've somehow mentally traumatized…" Trailing off, he looked at Jaune with a curious gaze. "I apologize, but what is your name?" He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, looking somewhat depressed. Shaking his head, he opened it once again.

"I-it's Jaune. M-my name is Jaune."

"Thank you! Now, ahem, do you think tha-" He was cut off when the boy opened his mouth.

"Um, where am I? Who are you people?" The three looked at each other, and then the big guy stepped forth, thumb pointed at his chest, a smug smile on his face.

"I be Aguo Flam, but th' moniker be too silly. Ye can call me Franky." The female stepped up, waved her hand, and gave Jaune a friendly smile.

"I'm Gwendolyn, Gwendolyn Rockbell, Winry for short." Then the man with the mustache stepped forward, hand on his chest and index finger pointed high into the sky.

"And I, Doctor Oxblood Robotnik, am one of Remnant's greatest scientific minds!" Franky leaned in next to Jaune, whispering in his ear.

"Ye see how he looks like an egg? Just call th' jolly doctor 'Eggman.'"

"I heard that, Franky! But anyway, we shouldn't leave out the other three- the 'leader' of this little expedition is that discount Santa Claus you met earlier, Edison Light. There's also the two professors from Vacuo's Blood Gulch Academy of Science, Simmons Maroon and Lopez Marrón." Winry stepped in.

"As for who we are, we're a group of scientists and engineers that, as of a few days ago, wander around the shores of Remnant, helping towns and settlements along the way as best as we can." Franky picked up the conversation.

"On board th' Hundredth Star, we sail around, erectin' cannons, givin' weapons 'n supplies, fixin' up around town, sometimes…" He gestured to Jaune's body. "We play doctor." Robotnik started to play with his long mustache.

"Yes… quite…" There was an awkward silence enveloping the room. Jaune was despondent, thinking about how bad his body is right now, while the three geniuses thought about how to make the situation better.

"I saw yer weapons." Jaune looked at Franky with a bit of confusion. "They be yers, aye?"

"Y-yeah, they are, but…" He looke around the room. "Actually, where are they?"

"Don't worry, they're in the hold! Anyway, Franky," Winry turned to her crewmate. "Why'd you bring it up?" He started to stroke his chin.

"I reckon… th' lad wanted t' be a Huntsman." Eggman leaned in, close to Jaune's face.

"Well, is that so, twerp?" He felt a sudden slap on his shoulder.

"Oxblood! Don't be rude. Anyways, Jaune, is this true?" He looked even more depressed after they asked him.

"Y-yeah… but… my body…" The three looked at each other.

"Yarrgh, we can make it happen!"

"Yeah, but the procedures are still experimental- we're still not sure how his nerves will react to all the wires and stuff…"

"But if they DO work, we have can help a huge portion of the population. I hear General Ironwood of Atlas has recently lost an arm and a leg, and prosthetics can only go so far." After a few more minutes of mumbling and stuff Jaune couldn't understand, the three came to a consenus. Robotnik stepped forward.

"Alright, listen up, boy! Our group of six has come up with a special scientific procedure that will turn your injured body into a mishmash of robotic parts, essentially turning you into a cybernetic organism, seen only in science fiction- a 'cyborg' for short." As Jaune opened his mouth to speak, the doctor held up a palm in front of the boy's face, and loudly interjected. "BUT the procedure can, no, WILL cause you a large amount of pain, no matter how many drugs we give you. That is, if it works, as we've never tested it before." Winry, kind Winry, kneeled beside the bed, and gently stroked Jaune's left arm.

"We're not forcing you, just so you know. This is entirely your decision."

"Aye, so what'll it be, laddie?"

* * *

 **A/N: Ooh, I wonder what Jaune will choose?**

 **References and stolen characters abound, Jaune's voyage has just begun! What awaits him beyond the horizon? What shores and forests will he trek through? Will any of you guys give me a good review? I don't know, so find out on the next chapter.**

 **Review or PM me, and see ya later!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Welcome back! Loved all the faves and follows, but I really loved the reviews the most.**

 **Avalanche-dragoon, Guest #1, Howler66 and anonymi: Thank you for your kind words *takes a bow***

 **Magister of OZ: Oh come on, he isn't THAT badly damaged. And I assure you, the Egg will only be a prick, not an actual villain. I see him as too much of a goof anyways, I can never take him seriously.**

 **.1: You'll see**

 **Guest #2: Unfortunately, that will be a long time coming... but it's gonna be very fun meeting.**

 **BusterBlue12: Yes, that IS an interesting question. Do I want a mature robotic Jaune, or do I want a cute, toy, shota Jaune (looking from a girl's POV)? Tough question, indeed...**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned RWBY, there would be a lot more senseless action sequences and less character development.**

* * *

" _Where is he?" The large door of a house slammed open. A figure walked out into the sunlight._

 _He was tall, with a tanned skin that suggested hours of being in the sun. His buzz-cut hair was bright and yellow, his eyes vibrant and blue, and agitated. His muscles bulged underneath his black, buttoned-up t-shirt. His brown slacks, held up by green suspenders and held tight by a black belt with a silver buckle, were dirty from working outside. His brown boots were scratched up, dirty and stomping on a wooden porch._

 _Peering at his front lawn, the tall man spotted what he was looking for- his wife, supporting a small crying boy… crying?_

" _Grr…" Grudgingly, he trudged over to the duo, fists clenched. Walking behind the woman, he lightly tapped her on the shoulder. "Blanca." She didn't turn around._

" _Yes, Noir?"_

" _Can I speak to my son?"_

"… _Alright." Relenting, she let go of the sobbing boy, and moved aside, allowing the tall man to look at his son. His sniveling, whimpering, little child. He growled._

" _Little brat…" Raising a hand, he backhanded his son, sending him down to the floor. "Learn to protect yourself, whelp!"_

" _Please, Noir, don't hurt him anymore. He's only a child." He spat at the ground._

" _When I was his age, I could screw over a Beowulf without my armor!" She picked up the child, helping him stand, before facing her husband._

" _But times are different now. When you were eight, this settlement was barely floating. But now, you're thirty-five, and chief of a peaceful, prosperous town. No eight-year old child should fight Grimm anymore."_

" _I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE GRIMM!" He turned around, facing the house. "You said it yourself, I'm the chief. And as the chief's son, Jaune has to set an example of himself before taking my position, as he is fated to do. But," He faced his wife and son, and gestured to the brat. "He is a spineless coward! A sniveling wreck! Kids his age, be they bigger, or worse, smaller and scrawnier, regularly beat him up for shits and giggles!"_

" _Noir!" He pointed to himself._

" _He is setting a poor example, a poor image, of both himself AND me! Hlaf of the brats running around town barely listen to me unless I have Crocea Mors on hand, because I have a weakling son!"_

" _Noir, that is enough! Jaune knows all this already, you have no need to beat it further into him…" He stepped closer to his wife and kid, causing the boy to hide behind his mother's leg._

" _A beating is a great idea…" He shook his head. "But not now. I need to work on that hole in the wall Indigo made when it was her turn to train the brat." Rotating to face his home, he cupped both hands around his mouth. "HEY VERDE!" A girl's head popped out from the door. It was slender and pretty, with a long, mint-green ponytail on top of it. Her pale-blue eyes were filled with a small sense of worry._

" _Yeah, pa?" He jerked a thumb behind him._

" _Do your job! I'll be heading out back." Trudging towards his house, he walked by the thin girl who ran past him, clad in a dark-green sundress. Eyes focused forward, he missed the look of disapproval she gave him as he passed her._

* * *

"Mmm…" Sitting up on the comfy, white bed provided too him, the boy gave a big yawn, before wincing a bit. With his right hand, he rubbed the back of his left shoulder. He felt not only the soreness in it, but also the cold, metallic touch of his right hand. Bringing it to view, he looked at his palm. Clenching it, he moved his attention to other the parts of his body that were covered.

It was a sad sight, one that he's been viewing for the past week. Looking at a mirror on the other side of his small room, he saw the only parts left that made him human: most of his face, the middle section of his neck, most of his bathing-suit area, his hair. He didn't see much of the pale skin he had been used to for so long. Instead, most of his body was a mixture of shiny cobalt blue and metallic grey.

Strangely enough, he could feel things with the sleek, hard alloy, almost as if it were his own skin. He could feel the warmth of his body, he could feel the rough surface of the wood. He didn't understand what Simmons and Lopez said, but he knew it had to do something with nerves, wires, and electricity. While there were too many big words and confusing concepts for the eight-year-old, he still found it amazing, how he could still feel. He could even feel the numb pain all over his body.

Pain… when he first woke up to see his cyborg body seven days ago, he was assaulted with a truckload of pain. It was terrible, and almost tortuous. He couldn't go a second without screaming. Luckily for him, the painkillers and lack of movement, save a few exercises, managed to dull the pain to the aches he felt now. Those, along with a little gift someone he received from someone he loved. He closed his eyes, and as a mental image of two people flashed in his mind, he couldn't stop the tears from falling.

He heard the door behind him click open. He didn't look back; he was too busy crying over his memories. The figure walked up behind him, and kneeled down beside him. Gingerly, the person put their arm around his shoulders, and gave him a handkerchief. After blowing out all the snot and tears, the figure took it from him.

"You know, Jaune," The kind voice of the elderly Light resounded throughout the quiet room. "We were supposed to run your first systems test for all your… robotic enhancements. But we understand if you wish for another day of rest." As he turned away, another mental image flashed through Jaune's mind. Vigorously, he grabbed the edge of Dr. Light's coat, stopping the old man.

"N-no, I'm fine." He looked up, towards the benefactor. "We can start testing."

"…Are you sure? We can always wait for you to, in a sense, get better."

"No." He looked at the youth, seeing the determination in his eyes. "I can do this."

* * *

"Lopez?"

"¿Sí," *chuckle* "Señor Flam? [Yes, mister Flam?]"

"Franky, Franky! Ye wee piece o'… Anyways," Standing at the prow, he looked at a stretch of water in front of the ship. Across the waves, far away from them, were several buoys, each with a wooden target on them. "Nice work."

"Por Supuesto. [Of course.]"

"Yarrgh! Now, laddie!" Rotating around, he looked at the wide-eyed cyborg behind him, who was still trying to rub out the aching feelings in his shoulders. "Stand wit' me at th' prow." Moving up to the large sailor, he allowed the man to kneel down and put his arm around his shoulders. "Close yer left eye." He did, and Franky gestured to the multitude of targets, floating in the open, wide, and azure waters ahead of them. "Do ye see all th' targets?"

"Umm, y-yeah, I do." He did, although everything with his right eye was tinted red. There was also a small 'X' symbol that he could see in the center of his eye. There was also a small line to the side with smaller lines along the side, with small numbers alongside them, and a thing that said 'x-zero' at the top right. "But, everything looks weirdly coloured. The seas and the boat are blue and green, and Franky, you're mostly red and yellow, with a bit of blue."

The engineer stroked his chin.

"Aye… Oh! That be th' infrared. Wit' it, ye can see how hot thin's are. Perfect fer trackin' or when thin's are too dark. Thin's a potential Hunter might 'ave t' do."

"But, uh, how do I turn it off?"

"Fer one, ye can open yer other eye. Fer two, jus' win' it. Trust yer instincts, let them guide ye."

"What?"

"T' help run yer robotics, we had t' put in a wee chip inside yer brain. Normally 'twould need somethin' like a 'puter or AI, but thankfully, th' human brain be th' best 'puter thar be. Anyways, all that are on th' chip are instructions fer how t' run yer robot parts. Reckon it t' be like learnin' how t' run, or how t' punch, or how t' eat. 'Cause now, thanks t' th' chip, managin' yer new robot body has essentially become instinct." *****

"… What?"

"Remember how we got ye t' move yer new limbs? By havin' ye reckon about movin' them?"

"Oh, right." Concentrating hard, he brought up a mental image of what he wanted to see- a relatively clear screen. After a few seconds, he… didn't get his wish. "It's not working."

"What? Hmmm…" As the engineer stroked his chin in thought, Simmons walked out into the light of day.

"Hey guys. How're the tests going?"

"Nah good at all. Lad says he can nah turn off his switch from infrared t' normal." Simmons looked down at the ground in thought. Turning his head back around to face the two, he hollered.

"Did you try saying 'Switch to normal vision'?"

"Blast ye! Why would th' runt wants t' do that?"

"Umm… Because someone might've accidentally spilled a drink on some hardware equipment and had to fix it quickly by inputting new inputs for Jaune's robo-bilities?"

"Wha' th' farrg! How's Jaune yellin' 'Pistol! Fire!' gonna help 'im if he ever needs t' be stealthy?" Simmons looked at the ground in shame, and he mumbled to himself.

"Try watching some Mistralian anime… uncultured jerk…"

"Eres un estúpido pedazo de mierda. [You are a stupid piece of shit.]"

Jaune did what Simmons instructed, and he felt something shifting around the right side of his face. Suddenly, his vision blurred, as if he as moving really fast. Then, the red tint disappeared, with everything looking relatively normal. He still had the crosshairs and the bar, though.

"There's this weird x-thing in the middle of my eye that won't go away. There's also a weird thing on the side… is that a ruler?"

"They be yer targetin' system 'n th' zoom function. Ye be needin' those whenever ye be firin' a gun. Okay, we'll work on makin' that run a bit more smoothly next time. 'N also a bit quieter. Heh, a sprog like ye might love th' x-ray vision."

"Sprog?"

"It means 'kid'. Now keep that left eye shut, 'n make a pistol wit' yer hand. Good. Tink about-"

"That was changed from thinking about it to saying 'Pistols Left!'"

"Dammit, Simmons! Okay, screw it, do wha' he said." Nodding to his teacher, he made a 'gun' with his left hand. Pointing it at the sea, Jaune said the magic words. He felt the gears, the nuts and bolts in his hand, moving. He wold've started staring at it in awe, watching as how his hand would morph into a gun!

All that excitement died when he saw the last segment of his index finger bent the other way, revealing nothing but an empty hole inside. He was disappointed, he thought it would be something more cool than bending his finger 180 degrees in the opposite direction. Still, he did look at it curiously.

"It looks like it should hurt, but it doesn't." His mentor nodded.

"That be a perk o' bein' mostly metal. Now, wit' that left eye closed, aim at a target, any target, wit' yer eye. Focus on th' red dot, 'n imagine yer hand firin' a bullet at it." Franky paused for a moment, thinking, before adding, "Also, yell 'Bang!' when ye do it." Sticking his tongue out in concentration, Jaune set his sights on a target close to the ship, but not too close.

As he focused in on the red dot, he barely noticed the fact that the little X in the middle of his vision expanded into a crosshair, centered on the bullseye. Imagining his hand as an actual gun for a brief moment, he thought of himself shooting a dust round into the wooden cut-out floating on the water.

"Bang!" As he did, he imagined himself firing the bullet, but was surprised when he felt no recoil at all. He was also a bit confused as to why he didn't hear a shot, and as to why he didn't see a bullet hole in the wood.

"… Instead of 'Bang!', yell 'Shoot!'"

"Ye know wha', Simmons? Come up here yourself. I need some Cola..." Walking away from the lion figurehead, head in his hands, Franky passed by the shamed and bespectacled geek in maroon. With a nervous chuckle, he joined Jaune at the prow, overlooking the targets on the water.

"… So, why did you change it from doing the thingie to saying it?"

"… I thought it would be cool…"

"Eres tan infantil. [You are so childish.]" Simmons gestured out into the sea.

"Well, are we gonna do some target practice?" Taking a deep breath, Jaune re-assumed his gunner's stance and aimed at the same target. Instead of thinking about the action, he just opened his mouth.

"Pistols Left, shoot!" THAT was when he felt the recoil, which would've sent his organic body flying backwards. His heavier and sturdier metal body, however, let him stay on his own two feet. It also allowed him to see the new hole he made in the wood without having to get off of the floor.

"Alright, it seems that THAT test worked. Now then, let's see some more guns and stuff!" For the next two hours, the two of them (with occasional input from Lopez) tested each and every one of Jaune's ranged-weaponry, from a sniper in his right to cannons in his shoulders, an RPG in his left leg and a chain gun from his abs, even a pair of assault rifles from his butt. And, after taking a short break, they started to test out the different visions Jaune's left eye could do. Just as they got through with their third eye-test, a comforting voice called out from the loudspeakers.

"EVERYBODY! LAND HO!" Simmons rubbed his chin in deep thinking.

"So we've come to Resembool, huh? I think it would be a nice little town."

"Sí. Pero no lo olvide, Jaune no es del todo normal. ¿Quién sabe cómo la gente reaccionaría a él? [Yes. But don't forget, Jaune is not entirely normal. Who knows how the people would react to him?]"

"You do make a point there, Lopez… Alright!" Clapping his hands, he turned to face Jaune. "Sorry, kiddo, but we're going to have to leave you behind."

"WHAT?!"

"Look, if people see you now, it'll be awkward and uncomfortable. We're still in the process of making something that looks and feels like human skin, which we can attach to your enhancements, but that takes weeks. Either you can feel like a circus freak, or you can wait here while we gather supplies. It's your choice, Jaune." As the lad opened his mouth to speak, the intercom blared to life again.

"ATTENTION. WE HAVE RECEIVED A RADIO MESSAGE FROM RESEMBOOL. APPARENTLY, THEY REQUIRE ASSISTANCE, AS THE TOWN IS BEING ATTACKED…

BY A HORDE OF GRIMM."

* * *

 **A/N: And that's that. In celebration for finals week (for some of us) we have several unseen weapons tests. How hilarious. Oh, and it looks like Jaune's gonna have a bloody fun time next chapter...**

 ***To help Jaune run his robotics, they put a chip filled with instructions inside his brain. Normally a chip would need some sort of computer or AI, but the brain has always been called a natural computer, so they used that instead. They put it in a spot where Jaune could easily access it, and run each program and instruction as if they were natural bodily functions, such as running or punching, using the unique electrical signals the brain used. Well, that was their plan, but then Simmons happened.**

 **Please leave a review or PM me, and I'll see y'all later!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: HellOOO AGAAIIINN! Welcome to another crappy chapter of FullMetal Heart.**

 **lordofthenight97: I'm sorry sir, did you just ASSUME I was gonna make him fight a Grimm this early? Still, it would definitely be ethically negative to have him fight Grimm as a walking armory after only one test, and after being turned to a cyborg, and after being found on a boat with very heavy wounds.**

 **NoxXelor: Now, I don't do Overwatch, but I will thank you for that nice idea. Originally, I wanted them to replace the limbs every year with longer limbs, but not that I think about it, that kinda screws up part of the plot...**

 **Guest: YW!**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned RWBY, I wouldn't be on this site right now.**

 **Now, let's get right on to the chapter.**

* * *

"HO HO HO! Double-time now, Simmons! Lopez!" With the Hundredth Star docked at a half-broken, yet still absurdly wide, pier, a sizeable hatch on the side of the ship opened up. As an engine roared from inside, a unique-looking vehicle popped out of the ship.

It has tires- BIG tires. Big, not just as in how high they were (1.4 meters in diameter), they were freaking wide, too. They were as wide as they were as tall, essentially forming a square of sorts if looked at from the front. Connected by short suspensions to the main body, they looked like they could drive on any surface. The body they were connected to was also fun to look at. It was silver, with black-and-yellow stripes near the back and an underside painted crimson. There was no top, only a small windshield at the front, and what looked like a large light source. At the back, over three long exhaust pipes, there was a rocket launcher and a mounted minigun. Written on the side of the minigun was a single phrase- 'Egg-O-Matic'.

Sitting in the cockpit was Doctor Robotnik, who was shaking his fist at something inside the ship.

"Hurry up and get in the Warthog already!"

"SHOTGUN!"

"¡ESCOPETA! Oh. ¡Carajo! [Shotgun! Oh. Fuck!]" He could feel something cold and metallic strike the back of his head.

"Lopez, watch your mouth. Jaune's not even ten feet away from you!" Simmons looked at Winry as if she was an idiot.

"Little known fact, Winry: Jaune can't speak Southwestern Vacuoan. What ever made you believe he could?" A wrench was thrown at his head, knocking him off of a pig-themed jeep.

"I don't care if he can't speak it, just watch your mouths around him! Now hurry up and go already. I just need to wait for Franky to fix up the Rhino." Climbing back onto the vehicle, Simmons took his place on a mounted machine gun. Rubbing his forehead, he looked at Winry, then to Jaune, waiting on the deck of the ship.

"I still can't see why we can't take him with us. He's a walking armory!"

"Yarrgh! Ye forget, Simmons- we 'ave t' test thin's multiple times afore deployment on th' field. Besides," Franky slowly drove out from the opening in the ship on top of a motorcycle that looked like a rhinoceros, with the standard automatic weaponry the crew's vehicles' possesed jutting out from the sides. With a giant wrench strapped to her back, Winry climbed on, behind the large sailor. "I be pretty sure he's still mentally roughed up from all that's happened t' 'im."

"… Fine. C'mon, Lopez! Let's hurry up and turn some Grimm into paste!" Driving down the broken pier, the two drove into a town that had several flaming buildings, screaming, gunfire, explosions, roaring, and the occasional mad 'HO HO HO' from the Eggman. As they drove away, and as Franky revved up the Rhino, Jaune let his voice be heard.

"Will you guys be okay?"

"Ha ha ha! Don't ye worry, don't ye worry, sprog! This ole bucket o' bolts be strong enough t' tackle TEN Ursa Majors, 'n still keep on ridin'."

"Besides, my husband, Edward, gave me some lessons in fighting. Me and my trusty wrench are entirely capable of combating a horde of Grimm."

"… Well, okay. I guess I'll just stay on the ship with Dr. Light and wait for you guys."

"We'll be back afore ye know it. Now, let's ride!" With a whoop and a holler, the dup rode off into town to help fend off the dark horde. Watching them leave, he sullenly walked back inside, finding Dr. Light, who was working in the bridge.

The bridge was a place well suited for keeping scientists busy. Not only did it include navigational units and other standard nautical equpiment, but it also included a large, hardlight computer in the middle which controlled the boat's extraneous functions, such as the extra cannons and the garage hatch where the crew's vehicles are stored. There was also ample space, enough for the crew's pet hedgehog to roam around free. Currently, the creature was situated on Dr. Light's shoulder, as he checked the weapons systems, the number of supplies on board, and the overall status of the ship.

Without saying a word to either of them, Jaune walked over to a nearby chair, and slumped his head down, idly watching the sonar system as it pinged off of wooden support beams, large fish, and underwater rocks. A small monitor on the roof of the bridge rotated around, looking at the boy. A feminine voice rang out.

"HELLO, JAUNE."

"Hi, Sheila."

"YOU SEEM DISTRACTED. ARE YOU WORRIED FOR WINRY AND THE OTHERS?"

"… Yeah." He could hear the elderly scientist sigh.

"You shouldn't be. This isn't their first time dealing with a large amount of Grimm, you know."

"YES. IN FACT, THIS IS THEIR SECOND TIME."

"That will be enough, Sheila."

"Well, Dr. Light, I'm just… scared." He turned his attention to the youth sitting dejectedly.

"Well, you have every right to be. Grimm are deadly creatures, Jaune. Those soulless monsters have taken away countless lives, attacked many settlements, and just overall look menacing enough to scare people. And you, Jaune, are just a boy, an eight-year-old child. Of course you'd be afraid."

"… Are you afraid, Dr. Light?" He stopped messing with the computer, and gave a sullen sigh.

"Yes. I am terribly afraid of the Grimm, Jaune. That's partly the reason why I elected to stay on board the ship." He wiped away a tear from his eye. "I fear what they've done, and I fear what they can do." He paused for a moment. "You know what, Jaune? We, the crew of the Hundredth Star, have never once questioned where you got those wounds. Are they… from the Grimm?"

"Well…" A series of images flashed into his mind- a burning town, bloody bodies, Grimm mauling people, humans clashing against humans, and finally a purple-haired girl with a taunting smile on her face. Tenderly, he touched his right cheek. "Not all of them…"

* * *

 _Verde Arc didn't always dislike her father._

 _Until she became six, she loved her daddy just like any little girl could. And she also loved her younger brother, Jaune, just like any little girl could. But then, that year, at a tender five years of age, Jaune entered school for the first time._

 _That's when the troubles started._

 _Apparently, when asked by the teacher what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said that he wanted to be a huntsman, like dear old dad was. Some of the older kids stuck in that class, however, disrespected him for the answer. Thus, all the constant bullying began on that day. The older kids spread their treatment of the blonde to the younger brats in Jaune's classroom, who spread it between their friends from other classrooms. In a matter of weeks, Jaune became the social outcast of the school._

 _Swirlies in the bathroom, stealing of lunch money, name-calling, and physical pain were all brought down on the boy. And he had no one to go to for comfort, as some of the kinder children found out that helping him out led to similar punishment, and the teachers there never liked the students. So everyone stayed away, leaving him to shoulder being pushed into puddles all by himself._

 _This started soon after Jaune's dad, Noir Arc, decided to train his son for the first time, like he trained all of his older sisters. However, the five-year old showed no real aptitude for swinging wooden swords and blocking with wooden shields. He couldn't even learn basic bare-handed self-defense moves, such as over-the-shoulder throws to his large, yet surprisingly heavy, teddy bears. Noir Arc didn't give up his attempts to train his son, however. He kept on pushing him, trying to get him to become good enough to protect himself at school._

 _The stress from his first year of schooling, combined with the first year of training, weakened him both mentally and physically. His skills in sword-and-shieldplay and general self-defense became even worse as time went on. And as he became worse, his dad became colder and more distant from him. Noir, disappointed at his son's decrease in progress, didn't give up on training the boy. But he did give up supporting him._

 _Currently, she walked up to the child whose body was quaking and trembling. As she did, her mother motioned to her._

" _Verde, please help Jaune. I… I need to clear my mind and reflect on some things."_

" _Okay, ma." As she watched her mother go off towards the town, she looked at her bruised and beaten little brother. Biting back tears of her own, Verde held her palms. Before she could make any motion, she was stopped by a cruel voice._

" _Oh, Verde! Wait!" She didn't have to turn around to know that behind her was Violet, the oldest of the sisters at the tender age of eleven. Still, as it was proper, she did it anyways, but she did not hide any disdain she had for her oldest sibling._

 _She wore a miniature set of dark-purple armor, which matched the accents and highlights she made to her own blonde hair. The armor only covered the top half of her body, though, exposing the jeans and boots she wore below. It was also very spiky and menacing, with the chest and abdomen designed to resemble a monster's face. Her skin was fair, her eyes a cold blue. On her face was a wide but unfriendly grin.  
"I want to talk to our dear little brother first, before you patch him up."_

" _What, more insults?" Being the closest of age to Jaune, Verde Arc was the only one out of her other siblings to not copy their father's cold attitude to the blonde._

" _No, just a statement. A tidbit of hilarious information." Striding by her younger sister, she walked right in front of her brother. Roughly, she cupped his chin, and made the tear-stained boy look at her. "Do you want to know something fun I just learned, Jaune? Father has finally given up on training you."_

 _Her words hit them like a train. Their dad, as much of a prick to Jaune he was, was stubborn and almost never gave up on anything, or anyone. The only times they've seen him give up on someone was when they were already dead in the literal sense, or were nothing but dirt to him._

 _This meant that Noir had pretty much disowned his son._

" _That's right, you heard me Jaune. He's given up on you. And for good reason. After all, you've done nothing these past three years but get worse and worse as time went on. You're hardly huntsman material, and considering this family, where even the twins and little Rouge can at least run father's gauntlet, that means you're essentially nothing." Her grin widened as tears began to fall anew from Jaune's face._

" _Aw, look at you, dear, you've gone and wet your face even more. What a shame. At the very least, I have some good news for you." Standing up, she walked away from the boy and towards the house, before stopping abruptly ten metres away. From behind her long locks of golden-and-purple hair, she took out a lengthy sword, filled with countless nicks along the blade and tatters along the cloth hilt._

" _I asked father if I could have this dusty old thing alongside the strings I normally use. But, I've decided that garbage goes best with garbage." Turning back around to face Jaune, she threw the sword in his direction. It flew past him, embedding itself in the dirt. A red line started to form on the right side of his face, marking where the blade cut into him. Seeing her work here was complete, Violet walked away from the duo laughing. "Oh, and you can find the shield placed inside the trashcan! Ha ha!"_

 _Clenching her fists and biting her lip, Verde Arc turned to face her brother. Holding out her hands, she focused, and a green, ethereal light emanated from her palms. Being the most pacifistic of the group, it should make sense that her special ability was Healing._

 _As the swelling on his face subsided and the bruising cleared up, she looked, with confusion, at the cut across his cheek- it wasn't healing as fast as the others. Ramping up the amount of energy she used, she was able to completely heal Jaune. Well, almost._

 _In the place of the cut was now a patch of skin, smoother and darker than the rest of his face. Gingerly, she reached out to touch it._

" _I'm sorry, bro. But, this mark here just won't heal. I guess, when she threw Crocea Mors, she cut real deep."_

" _Umm, sis? What do you mean by that?"_

" _I mean that Violet scarred you. And that isn't going away anytime soon."_

* * *

"Ah, I… see…" The old man went quiet for a while. Silence permeated throughout the room, the only noises being the waves and the noise of machinery. As he watched the sonar system ping repetitively, Jaune couldn't help but remember all the fun times he shared with his older sister. His brain shifted through memory after memory, before he remembered something she once told him.

' _Sis, how come you help when everyone else doesn't?' Smiling, she ruffled his hair, before giving him a kiss on the forehead._

' _Well, silly, it's because I love my younger brother. And besides, we're both trying to become Hunters, right? It's a hunter's job to help everyone out, no matter how bad or how scary something is.'_

Idly, he moved a metallic hand in front of his face. He splayed it, and looked at his palm. His clear, shiny palm. As he stared, he saw his own reflection: weak and nervous, like he always was. Desperate to get away, he closed it, and clenched it into a fist. A nice, tight, strong fist…

Slowly, he sat up. Getting off of his seat, he walked over to a door leading out into the open-air deck. His movements weren't unnoticed by the doctor.

"Jaune? Is something the matter?" On shaky legs, he turned around, showing the doctor scared, but nonetheless determined, eyes.

"Yeah, something's wrong." He jerked a thumb at himself. "I'm not doing what a future Hunter should be doing: Helping others." Throwing open the door, Jaune leapt off the ship. Ignoring the doctor's cry of alarm, he rushed into the town.

Hidden from his view, retreating red eyes caught sight of an easy meal.

* * *

 **A/N: I bet you three hundred lien someone's gonna assume I'm making him fight a Grimm next chapter. There's always one... Now, what's going to go on next chapter? Will Jaune ACTUALLY fight a Grimm? Will he meet any of the villagers, and if so, what sort of reaction will they give? How many character cameos will there be? Will there be any flashbacks next chapter? Well, wait till the next chapter comes along, and read it for yourself.**

 **Well, I'm gonna go enjoy my Winter break now. The snow outside's calling me, and my little sister is knocking on my door, singing 'Do You Wanna Build a Snowman'. Please don't forget to review or PM, and I'll see ya later!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Well, I'm back from a needed break... and I can already tell that sh*ts gone more south than Texas (the state, not the Agent). More after you read...**

 **brandon2071: Here's your chappie**

 **ENDDRAGON369: Yup.**

 **Enjoy if you want.**

* * *

Pumping figurative blood and sweat into his metallic legs, Jaune rushed towards the burning seaside town. As he raced, he thought of what he could do once he got there. He had all of these weapons crammed inside him, so there was the option of an all-out assault. As a walking armory, he could take on several Dark Creatures at once (right?), probably more than he thought he could. But that option led to the chances of accidentally hurting someone, be they the crew of the Star or villagers.

He felt a twinge of phantom pain in his right knee, over the spot where an arrow sailed past its target, hitting him instead.

There was also another option he could try: being a half-human shield. Despite it being his body, he's still mostly made out of metal. The Grimm may scratch and bite him, likely causing huge amounts of pain, but he'll be able to protect anyone he comes across. Besides, he also had a useful tool he could use, a little gift Verde gave him before they parted ways…

Tearing up just thinking about his family, Jaune's senses sharpened. Alongside enhanced durability and eyesight, his auditory abilities were also increased by the operation. And with his increased hearing, the eight year-old noted that something was in the bushes close by, following him. Stopping in his tracks, Jaune eyed the forest next to him warily. With his burst of energy and bravado used up during his run, the boy started trembling.

"P-Pistols Left!" Shakily, he shifted his hand into a weapon. Thinking back to all those spy movies he watched whenever no one was looking, he tiptoed towards the bushes, hand grasping pistol-hand. As he got near, he heard a voice call out from behind him.

Turning around, he caught sight of the Eggman, situated in his Egg-Monster, staring at him with his mouth wide open. Behind the shades he always wore on his face, one could see that he held no small amount of surprise. As his mouth moved to voice his confusion at seeing the originally timid child rushing towards the battlefield, Jaune heard a demonic snarl coming from the woods.

Turning back around to face the dark forest, he gasped as he saw a malicious figure. It stood on two hind legs, and was around the height of an adult human, even with its characteristic slouch. While the limbs were long and lithe, the rest of the body was muscular, with an overall form similar to that of a normal _homo sapiens_. Unlike humans, and by extension Faunus, this creature was completely covered in pitch-black fur. From its knees, its arms, and its back, one could see the white bone spikes protruding from the body, which looked just like the claws sprouting from its digits. The head was encased in a bone mask reminiscent of a dog's skull, complete with sharp teeth, piercing yellow eyes and a terrible growl.

It was an Omega Beowulf, a low-ranking member of the fearsome Grimm horde. Despite its status as a feral goon, this Beowulf, like other creatures of Grimm, had a countenance that frightened others, even if only a little bit. And that frightfulness could easily be seen in the child that stood before it. Trembling, Jaune couldn't form the right word to end the staring contest between him and the beast. As it moved a claw to cut him down, all he could see was a faint image, superimposed on what he was seeing.

A burning village, the light of a New Moon, and an even bigger Beowulf than the one in front of him, all accompanied by the ghostly image of a blonde woman dripping red…

The image, and the offender, both vanished into dust as a massive monkey wrench crushed the Grimm, causing it to vanish into black smoke.

After a moment's stupor, Jaune fell to his knees, hand-pistol disengaging. His hands fell to the ground in front of him, grabbing the dirt and sand. As tears formed in his eyes, he began to think.

 _He failed. Again._

 _He failed to listen to orders._

 _He failed to stay on the ship._

 _He failed to confront his fears. He failed to have some sort of revenge. He failed to kill the weakest Grimm. He failed to shoot it. He failed himself…_

Jaune Arc couldn't help but raise his head towards the sky, and cry.

* * *

He sat with his hands on his knees, gazing forlornly at the water below the boat. As he stared at his reflection, he couldn't help but berate himself. Once more, he let fear get to him, and once more, he almost lost his life. The only consolation prize was that no one died because of it. While that may seem pretty hefty, to him it didn't feel like it.

The more he thought about the differences between what happened several minutes ago and what happened weeks ago, the more he couldn't help but think of the parallels. And as he thought of the similarities, the what-ifs came to mind. Those what-ifs scared him.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the friendly woman sliding up next to him.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look at her. She looked at him with a sad smile. Meeting Winry's gaze with his own, he practically threw his head back to the water, looking away from his benefactor.

"Mind if I stay with you?" He didn't react. Shifting herself, she got into a more comfortable position on the edge of the Star. "A penny for your thoughts?"

"… I'm scared."

"Well, that's only natural concerning the Gri-"

"I-it's not just because of them. It's also because of something they did…" Crossing his arms over his body, he started to rub his shoulders, shivering from the memories. "It's something I won't forget." Winry's expression became neutral.

"… I see." She looked out at the horizon. "I guess you also miss your family and friends, huh?"

"… Hmm…" Releasing her breath, she gently grabbed the young boy's face, bringing it closer to hers. Looking inside those azure eyes, she saw a swirl of emotions she remembers so very clearly. Anger, fear, sadness. Hate at oneself for falling below par. A bevy of thoughts she's seen before.

To her, it was like she was a kid again, looking into the eyes of the one she loved.

Slowly returning to reality, she looked at him with hard eyes. She thought back to words she had heard before, during her childhood, to someone who was as pitiful as Jaune right now.

"Listen up, kid. I'm only gonna say this once, got it? Whatever you're feeling is Wrong! Completely WRONG!" Her words confused the boy.

"W-what?"

"You think yourself a failure, right? Well, WRONG! You failed nobody! Instead, if I were your friends and family, I'd want to feel nothing but pride." Those words made him stiffen.

"Pride?" Shaking her hands off of him, Jaune stood up, arms wide. "PRIDE? I froze up in fear! A weapon like me couldn't even do my job right! The job of my family!" His eyes became downcast once again. "I almost died…"

"'Almost' is AMAZING! You cheated death, you're still among the living! You're family should be proud to have a son that hasn't already fallen to Lady Death's scythe."

"Proud? I had no friends at all? And none of my family even liked me!" Winry recoiled back. This was starting to become different than that old memory of hers. After a moment's thought, she continued the argument.

"Well, in that case, you should definitely feel some pride! What did those naysayers say about you, anyway? That you'd lose an arm to a Beowulf or something like that? That you'd be cut to down to only bits and pieces? That you'd die?" The blond boy deflated a bit.

"… Yeah…"

"Think about it, Jaune. Who's the one standing on top now? You are! You're the one that's still alive, not them. They're the ones that failed. They're the ones that should have regrets, not you!" She put an arm on his shoulder. "By succeeding where they couldn't, all those that bullied and picked on you, you've managed to become better than them." He clenched an iron fist.

"No, that's not right. Mom and Verde, the only two people who'd ever care for me… I don't think they'd agree to something like that…" She scoffed.

"Knowing loved ones, I think they might agree to it. Nobody enjoys seeing someone they love being picked on, having their fears played with by bullies." She poked a finger at him. "But there's the problem, you have NO bullies! The only one you're picking on is yourself. When it comes down to it, I think that you beating yourself up is failing them more than when you not killing a Grimm. Which, by the way, I think you're far too young to fight." With a pair of fingers, she gently poked him in the forehead. "Tiny." He turned back to face the water. The tears from earlier had stopped flowing, but the sadness was still there. Only now, there was also confusion.

"Alright, Winry." The smaller child hugged his body together. "What should I do?"

"Well… you probably think fear is just a wall to block your progress, right?" He nodded slowly. "What if I told you this: any wall can be used as a springboard. So, whenever you feel fear, whenever a Grimm backs you up to that wall… Instead of pressing your back to it, do some parkour and use it to leap straight at their masks!"

"That sounds scary… I don't think I can do it. I mean, what if I die?" Once more, she snaked an arm over his shoulders.

"Well, I think you CAN do it." She poked him in the chest. "You're stronger than you think yourself to be, y'know. After all, when Franky and I found you in that little dinghy, you were still holding onto life." She patted him on the shoulder. "Your will to live and bounce back is strong, but it can't do anything unless you jump off that wall. And when you slay that Grimm," She looked toward a bright sun, setting in the distance.

"You'll see the bright light of bravery staring back at you." Watching the boy, sh saw a dim light glowing in his eyes. Slowly but surely, Winry watched that light grow brighter and brighter inside, along with a small smile on the boy's face.

"...Yeah…"

* * *

"BOO!" When a white mask appeared before his eyes, Jaune immediately decided to cling to Winry for mental protection, while the blonde immediately hit the masked man over the head with a wrench.

"WHAT THE HE-HECK?" Rubbing a bump on his bald head, the man removed his mask, revealing a pair of familiar glasses, and a familiar oversized nose.

"Hello to you too, Jaune and Winry."

" _Doctor Robotnik…_ " With fires behind her, Winry held her weapon threateningly. "What EXACTLY do you think you're doing?"

"Doctor?" The cyborg poked his head out from behind Winry's back. "Why would you scare me from behind the door to the cabin?"

"Well, runt, it's quite simple actually." Taking his glasses off, he started to polish them as he spoke. "I overheard your heart-to-heart with Winry yesterday. And, despite it being a nice speech that the kid will probably commit to memory and will probably remember in times of crisis to give him a boost," Putting his glasses back on, the doctor brought his face rather close to Jaune's. "It's simply not enough." He moved from Jaune's face to Winry's, and poked her in the chest. "You can't just expect these types of things to happen in real life as they do in fiction, Ms. Rockbell." She slapped his hand away.

"And what do you suggest, Doctor?" He held up the white mask he had on from earlier. It was big enough to cover Eggman's head and moustache, and resembled an animal's skull. It was even made with a material that looked a lot like the type of bone found on Grimm.

"Some therapy for the boy. While it may not completely rid him of his fear of Grimm, not that there's no one in the world that's unafraid of those cretins, enough therapy would help him to not completely freeze up at the sight. Which is why I have the mask."

"Your idea works with as much of a reliance on chance than mine."

"No, it relies less on chance and more on repeated exposure to fearsome elements that gradually become more frightening as his courage grows. I've already asked Lopez to create a bunch of cardboard Grimm targets for target practice." The lady in front of him sighed, and almost gave in.

"What about when it comes to the real deal?"

"Simple." He tossed the mask up into the air, before catching it with both hands, almost resembling a cage of some sort. "We'll catch a Grimm, an Omega most likely, and put it in a cage for Jaune to look at, and we'll see if he freezes up again." Rubbing her hands into her hair, Winry looked at him with some mild disgust.

"What does Edison say about your plan." He gave the two of them a wide grin.

"He'll approve it if Jaune does. Speaking of which," He bent down to be level with Jaune. "I might as well make it simple for Jaune to understand."

"U-um, I kinda get what you were talking about, with the Grimm-thing… It's like trying to get used to having a new sibling or after somebody you've been with for a while leaves, right?" The doctor clapped his hands together while smiling brightly. With a big hand, he ruffled the mop of blonde hair on top of the cyborg's scalp.

"Splendid! You got what we were talking about. Of course, Jaune, the crew of the Hundredth Star won't do this without your permission. So," Standing back up again, grin on his face, the older man stuck out an open hand. "Your choice?"

* * *

 **A/N: See what I mean? I can't help but feel as though I've gotten lazier, screwing over the quality of my writings... If it does, in fact, seem good to you, then just ignore what I'm typing. At least I have a plot plotted out...**

 **Anyway please voice your thought via review or PM, and see ya later.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Howdy, folks! we got ourselves another chapter here, hope y'all enjoy! Also, as you may have noticed, DARKPHANTOM13 has given me a nice and simple picture to use for this fic. If you've seen it and enjoyed it, see if you can check him out on DeviantArt:** **He may not have a lot, but they're alright to look at.**

 **pyrothekid: Well, I wouldn't call myself a fan of FMA as much as someone who just enjoyed the series... but I can't have a blonde guy with metal parts in a fanfic based on something that resembles anime without including a walking, talking reference.**

 **ENDDRAGON369: As luck has had it, Fate decrees that small and certain elements will Stay the Night... but in later chapters, when I can probably fit them in.**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned RWBY, the Faunus aspect would probably rip off of Monster Musume (I won't lie, that is my guilty pleasure)**

* * *

Golden light spread throughout a world of dark blue. The light became brighter, and sue did the sky around it. The sea below the expansive azure slowly became it's natural color: cobalt, with a hint of salty emerald. The world below the waves came to life- fish swam in massive schools, and pods of playful dolphins leapt up from beneath the waves. Above them, traversing about the clouds, droves of gulls and albatrosses and other waterfowl circled the skies, looking for food drifting close to the water's surface. Plucking out their catches, they flew back to their home: a mass of rocky outcroppings, miles from the nearest shores. Approaching their nests and their fluffy, gluttonous hatchlings, the chicks happily received their day's breakfast.

Rocking on the waves, a large cruiser drifted close to the stone cliffs. Evoking the image of ancient watercraft, the image at the prow was of a golden lion, with a blazing mane. Its mouth hung open, with enough shadows hiding the gun barrels inside. The ship was painted a driftwood beige, similar to the vessels of days past. 'Twas massive, with ample space for 100 men between the figurehead and the bridge, and 150 between the bridge and the deckhouse, bringing the total to almost 250 on the deck- very spacious for the limited crew inside. The whir and buzzing of the computers within, along with the occasional mumbling and growling from the occupants, were low in volume, and relatively serene.

Lopez, enjoying an early-morning siesta on top of the deckhouse, smiled in his sleep. Whether it was from his dream or a reaction to the peaceful environment, one could not tell. Nor would they be able to after what happened next.

" **YEEK!** " Flailing about in his reclined chair, the engineer fell off. Rubbing his pained forehead, the man grumbled as he placed his sombrero back on his head, it having fallen off when he was caught off guard.

"Mierda, ¿qué está haciendo ese ruido tan temprano en la mañana? Sonaba como una chica ... [Shit, what is making that noise this early in the morning? Sounded like a girl...]" Stomping off to the crew's quarters, he came across a trio of people, standing in front of the door to Jaune's room. With an unimpressed glare, poor Simmons was drenched in black coffee. Hands on his face, rubbing out the annoyance building up at the bridge of his nose, stood Doctor Light. And standing at the door, wearing a black bodysuit and a white animal mask, stood Aguo Flam, a sheepish look on his face.

Peeking into the open room, he saw, on his bed and foaming at the mouth, was an unconscious Jaune. He gave a deadpan face, although he couldn't hide the pity in his eyes. After all, it had been four and a half months since they started the lad's… treatment. His slow and painful treatment. If he remembered correctly, Jaune just 'graduated' from audio recordings of Beowulf roars the night before… as in, he didn't freeze up this time.

"Ay hijos de putas, ¿no podían ustedes haber esperado un día o dos antes de pasar a la siguiente etapa del tratamiento? [Oh sons of bitches, couldn't you guys have waited a day or two before moving onto the next stage of treatment?]"

"Erm… well…"

"Nonsense!" Lopez, Simmons, and Light looked at the egg-shaped scientist, who was walking in from around the corner with exaggerated swagger. "Why waste valuable time that could be used for some of the more… interesting things, such as more weapons testing! Or maybe even finding him a tutor for his sword." The aged Edison in front of him simply sighed.

"One day, Robotnik, those thoughts of yours could go and have dire consequences."

"Bah! What am I going to do, enslave a bunch of animals?" A frightening aura appeared behind him.

"No…" Slowly, Eggman turned around, finding an angry lady, with frizzled blonde hair and a raised fist, ready to impact into his face. "What you ARE going to get is a trip to the medical ward!"

After watching Winry punch the Egg into a wall, Simmons thought it would be a good time to retreat to the breakfast table. After stirring the blonde cyborg from his fear-induced state of unconsciousness, the pair of them made their way past the bridge and into the mess hall. Grabbing bowls for themselves, Simmons got them both Loopy Fruity cereal, complete with Udderly Delicious milk.

"So, are you okay?" The blonde stared at the nerd in glasses sitting across from him. "I mean, Franky gave you a pretty nasty scare.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay. I know he doesn't like doing it anyways. But Doctor Robotnik… he really scares me. A lot."

"Tell me about it. The guy's twisted in how he thinks, always going for odd or violent ways to solve a problem. He's caused us big problems before, especially when dealing with villagers." He paused to gulp down the milk in his bowl. "Ahh, refreshing."

"So, why do you guys still let him onboard the ship?" The clattering of dishes could be heard as Jaune placed their bowls into the sink. Jaune and Simmons walked out, into a long and winding corridor.

"Well, it's simple really. For one, the guy's a brilliant inventor, if not a bit odd. But still, under all of his quirks, Eggman's actually a nice guy."

"I don't think I can believe that."

"Well, he is! He likes to help people out with their problems. It's just that his answers to those problems suck a lot. Usually, they're capable of greatly hurting someone. For example, one time were installing a dust reactor in a town to help power some defenses installed when it malfunctioned and threatened to cause a meltdown. Let me tell ya this, Jaune, dust meltdowns are very bad for humans and animals, but okay for plants. We were about to move the reactor into a nearby forest, but Eggman thought to himself, 'naw, we should just overload it, making a huge dust explosion!' And that's what he did."

"W-wait a minute," Jaune had his hands to his sides, laughing at the way Simmons presented this new information to him. They were intertwined with shivers of fear as to what the Doctor could do. "So he just makes it explode, without a care in the world?"

"Yup, and it kinda backfired on him too. He got severe coughs and cold from the ice dust used in the reactor, and he couldn't work with pretty much anything because of the thunder dust unless he had on a rubber suit. And they looked ridiculous on him!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Know how he looks like an egg? Well, the suit made him look like a rooster with teeth!" By now, any fear Jaune had escaped out his mouth in the form of intense giggling. "Hey, I managed to make you smile! I guess you won't have to brood over what happened this morning, huh?" At the mention of what happened, a sad look came across Jaune's face.

"I'm still too scared." He looked at his left hand, gazing inside it, dissecting the firearms and ammunition inside. He closed it, and slowly let it fall back to his side. "I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to become a hunter." Realizing he screwed up, Simmons was ready to give the boy a strong speech, but then the ship's speaker systems came on.

"YARR! WE BE APPROACHIN' TH' TOWN O' ISELAN!"

"Iselan, huh? If I remember right, they have some good ice and thunder dust we can use…" As he thought up more things he heard about the town, he started to slump "Oh, right, their women are known to be pretty and very social. That's utter torture for someone like me…"

"At least you can go." Surprised at Jaune's tone, he stared intently at the young blonde. "I'll have to stay on the ship, since I don't want anyone to look at me…" Seeing him, hands in the pockets of his Pumpkin Pete onesie, looking down at the ground, made Simmons feel really guilty about what he just said. Luckily for the glasses-toting nerd, a light bulb went off in his head, reminding him of some good news he wanted to tell the Jaune.

"Maybe you won't HAVE to stay on board the boat this time!" He grabbed the cyborg by the shoulders, and looked intently into his eyes. "We finished something last night that we're sure you're gonna enjoy! Now c'mon, let's go!" Taking Jaune's hand in his own, Simmons pumped a fist into the air. "To the lab!" He ran off, Jaune at his heels, before widening his eyes. Stopping at a dime, he did a quick 180. "Whoops, wrong way!" They started to run again.

"Wait, you forgot? But, you've been on this ship for almost half a year!"

"It's a BIG ship, Jaune. And besides, genius scientists like me have a bunch of things going on inside our head, so sometimes things can be forgotten."

"Oh, so that's why you wrote down the passcode to your room, huh?"

"Precisely!" Reaching their destination, the maroon-lad geek slammed open the lab doors with his free hand, startling the two occupants inside.

"¡Oye, pendejo! ¡Toca primero! [Hey, asshole! Knock first!]"

"Sorry, Lopez! Anyway, where's the surprise for Jaune we were working on last night?" The eyes of his colleague, Edison Light, scrunched up in small confusion.

"Surprise? …Ah, yes, his surprise!" He guided Jaune towards a small computer, hooked up to a compact, diminutive silver box. Typing in a few things on the computer, an image of Jaune's cyborg body appeared on-screen "Well, Jaune, as you know the fact that you're mostly made out of shining steel can make others uncomfortable- don't think we haven't seen you sneak out of the ship every once in a while." He knew he hit the mark when he saw Jaune flinch and look away.

"That being said, we've also seen how people react when they see your… enhancements. As such, we've decided, at Franky's behest, to speed up production of a material that looks, feels, and even smells like human skin! And after some time…" He showed Jaune a little animation, where in the metallic parts of his body suddenly looked like flesh again. "We have enough of it to completely cover up your body!" The boy looked at him in awe and happiness.

"D-does that mean I can go out? Explore?"

"¡Si por supuesto! [Yes, of course!]" The Vacuoan and his longtime buddy gave the kid a playful noogie.

"What're we waiting for? Let's get this show on the road!" They opened up the box, revealing the pile of material. Without a moment's delay, Jaune put on the mass of artificial skin, almost as if it were a body suit. He could feel it- how thin it was, all the white cottony padding, and that weird slimy sensation when he placed it on his metallic body…

"This feels weird."

"Oh, that's just because of the adhesives! It's a special chemical concoction that binds the padding underneath the skin to your metal frame. But not only is it easy to put on, it's also simple to take off, so be careful!" He didn't really listen to the old scientist, and was instead more intent in feeling up his new set of 'skin'.

It was comfy, true, but it felt off and completely odd… that was something to break in. Still, it looked healthy- the material was nice and supple, and he kept poking it, finding that it felt like he was poking through a sweatshirt. He was highly interested in the parts that didn't exactly connect- a miniscule line between the upper and lower limbs, a tiny crack down his abdomen, and an unnoticeable mark across his forehead. With his hands, he felt the areas around those little gaps, noting how simple it was for him to take off.

"Did I not just ask you to be careful, Jaune?"

"S-sorry, sir! It's just that it feels… funny, and it feels really funny at the places I can peel it off."

"Well, it is a prototype you're wearing after all. This will be something to fix in the next version of the material." Nodding his head and smiling brightly, the boy was about to walk out a door onto a deck when he stopped. Quickly, his mood changed, from hopeful to worrisome. "Is there something wrong, Jaune?"

"S-sorry, sir, it's just that in my old town, I wasn't exactly the most liked person. With me, adults didn't care- other than mom- and other kids picked on me, except my older sister. And then, after I became like… this, I freak people out and turn them away from me. I'm scared." He felt the professor take his hand, and he saw him smile warmly.

"That's your past. It's a sad past, but one that's no longer a reality. Instead, it's an obstacle, or as Winry stated, a wall you need to kick off of towards a new future. Come ashore, Jaune. And let us help you jump off that wall."

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 **A/N: Another crappy chapter done! In this new port town of Iselan, Jaune'll get a surprise in the form of two new buddies. They won't get on board just yet, but they definitely will! Whew, what CHAOS they'll bring to the ship... well, one of them at least. The other'll probably be in the kitchen, flipping food on a pan.**

 **Review, PM, or some other shit, and I'll see everyone later. Peace out!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:Whassaup, ah? Welcome to another lazy chapter of Fullmetal Heart. Enjoy!**

 **garoorar: To be completely honest, that was the original idea- start off with him being late to Beacon and meeting Ruby with some cool cyborg skates or some other stuff. But then I decided to do this... and I completely screwed up. YAY!**

 **Note: I finished this right before I watched the newest episode. So yeah.**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned RWBY, WhiteRose would've been official since chapter 1**

* * *

The first few thoughts that struck Jaune were about the beauty of the town they were in. Well, no. Actually, his first few thoughts were complaints about the temperature.

"SO COLD!" By this time, winter had set in around the northern half of the massive continent of Sanus, and Iselan was one of the most northernmost port towns on the landmass. As such, there was plenty of ice and snow. "But so pretty!" No sheet of ice and no amount of cold powder could detract from the town's beauty. Instead, they added to it.

Iselan was a large port town, with several docks and long boathouses, and small but long abodes and shops, and several three-story structures with spires upon spires, and a few large and modernized buildings. Among said buildings, there were several construction sites promising large skyscrapers- it was obvious this place was growing into a small city (as if the few grey smokestacks in the distance didn't give any indication to this). Speaking of the architecture, the decorations on each house easily reflected how close this town's relations with Atlas, the Northern Kingdom, were. From the long shape of the houses, to the decorative grasses on top of each house, and the titanic stone figures keeping a watchful eye over the port and town, there was a definite culture here.

Jaune took notice of the way the figures, ranging from dragons to warriors with horned helms, were crafted- each were crafted in a way that allowed frozen water to form unique shapes on their figures. They added spikes to wings, saw-like edges to blades, light-blue beards to giant rock men- and formed some pretty nice icicles underneath the roofs of each house, many of which built from nice mahogany.

"Har har har! I reckon ye be enjoyin' th' view, right Jaune?"

"The town has all these cool sculptures, and all the snow looks fun! How can I not enjoy the view?"

"Well, see if ye can nah gaze while workin'. C'mon, help us wit' these parts."

"Oh, right." Enhanced strength worked its magic as Jaune easily lifted a giant, metal… thingie larger than him and with fire dust (a heater? A forge?) without much struggle. While Winry and Edison Light were speaking with the town's elder, a large and burly and hairy man, the rest of the crew were unloading some necessities for whatever work they were going to do on the town over the next few weeks.

Letting his gaze wander, it happened to fall upon a few kids his age. Still worried about his treatment in a social setting, He quickly adjusted the scarf wrapped around his neck, hiding most of his face from the outside world. But still, they stared at the strange foreigner, who, at their age, easily lifted large loads over his head. Jaune was still too shy, even with their awe-filled faces (although he may have mistaken them as mean glares). He quickly rushed through his work, trying his best to ignore their stares.

"Hey, Jaune, what're you doing?"

"W-woah!" Almost dropping a pair of heavy dust bags, he turned around to face his maroon companion.

"Sorry, bud."

"I-it's okay, sir." He and the geek walked side-by-side, carrying their goods "Anyway, what did you say again?"

"I asked, 'What're you doing'?"

"Um… I'm working…?"

"Wha-no, not that. I mean, what're you doing covering up your face like that? It isn't that cold." Despite his thick scarf, Simmons could see a bit of red cover Jaune's cheeks. Almost instinctively, the blonde directed his eyes to stare at the group of other children, many of which had left or were being led away by their mothers. The few that were still there, though, were still staring at him work.

"They're staring at me with those faces… I don't like it. And I don't like the way their mommies are leading them away…" He looked at the boy with confusion. After all, couldn't he see the admiration in his eyes. His thoughts began to wander, before he recalled something Jaune told him and the other crewmates.

' _I see, I see! He remembers the way his old townspeople treated him, as well as what other people thought of when they saw him, and all these negative thoughts are overriding any sense of awe and wonder that people can just FEEL emanating from those kids…'_ Nodding to himself in thought, he put down what he was carrying, and ran over to where Winry and Doctor Light were.  
"Hello there! Sorry to interrupt." The jolly old man greeted him with a smile.

"Ah, Professor Simmons Maroon! Don't worry, you weren't interrupting anything important. We just finished negotiating our terms for staying here- you know, our jobs, how many hired hands we're allotted, and other things."

"Whew! Okay, great. Listen, Jaune needs help in socially interacting with the local children here. He's too busy remembering the way people used to react to him and too busy forgetting that, with what he has now, there should be no reason any of those kids awe-struck at his strength should be scared of him." Winry put a hand to her chin in thought.

"Oh dear me…"

"Excuse me…" He titlted his head downwards, gazing into the face of the village elder: a hunched-over dwarf of a man. He wore a thick parka and had on a long, fluffy hat, with ends so long they dragged behind him on the snow. His silver eyebrows and grey beard were so hairy, you couldn't see most of his face. In his hand, he wielded a long staff double his size with an engraving of a snowflake at the top. "But is one of your men not liking their stay so far?"

"Kind of. You saw the boy carrying the large items from our ship, yes?" The elder gave 'hmm' in response. "He has had a… troubled… past when dealing with people socially. It's made him a bit of an outcast."

"That won't do, no that won't do at all. How can we show hospitality without you all, especially him, interacting with the townspeople? Give the lad a break from his work. After all, children should play, not labor."

"Wise words, elder. Well, anyways, we've almost unloaded all of our paraphernalia. Why don't we all take a short break?" The reddish scientist whooped and rose his hands to the air. He cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Hey, guys! We can take a break!"

"Gracias!"

"Oh, thank the gods! Me back be startin' t' ache..." He set down a large heating unit, and then struck the young'un on the back. "Oi, Jaune! Why don't we conversate wit' th' locals, aye? 'n by that, I mean ye should go play wit' those laddies o'er thar."

"Oh no, I don't I shou-"

"Come on, I'll help ye!"

"No no wait!" Grasping him firmly by the shoulders, the larger being lifted Jaune up, and carried him off to meet the throng of childish spectators. Simmons saw this, and concluded that all was good. As he turned around to go back to the ship, he suddenly came face-to-face with a large pair of female anatomy. Barely hiding his blush, he looked up to see the beautiful face of a tall woman. Her eyes shone a fierce emerald, her hair a blinding white, and her plump lips were pressed into a small smile.

"Hallo."

"… Eep."

"Ah, if it isn't my daughter Lilja." The amazon went on her knees, and gave the elderly elder a hug. "I take it everything is running smoothly at the factories today?"

"Yes, father. Everything is going fine. All the workers are currently relaxing."

"Hmm. If I may ask, can you please give these people here a short tour of our little town?" Her steady gaze fell upon each of them.

"As you wish." Turning to Simmons, she gave him a wink. He would later need to be given chest compressions by a giggling Winry due to his heart stopping.

* * *

"Uh…" Despite what Franky had said, he left Jaune to deal with his peers shortly after he hauled him over there. Communicating proved to be a tad bit difficult, since the native Iselanics before him knew a limited amount of Central Vacuoan. Lucky for him, they were able to communicate how impressed they were at his feats.

"So strong! So cool!"

"Amazing!"

"Wow!" As the crowd clamored around him, a new face made itself known. With a bright smile, a feminine figure with sharp eyes, a charcoal ponytail with a pink streak, and a green fur jacket leapt down from a snowy tree, landing in front of a surprised Jaune.

"HI!"

"Uwaah!" Watching the blonde falling on his rump, he stretched out a hand. Tentatively, Jaune took it, and was pulled up onto his feet. As the cyborg (concealed by false skin) brushed off the snow, a loud voice rang out.

"REN! WHERE ARE YOU?" Emerging from a pair of bushes was a ginger-haired girl with emerald-blue pupils. Rubbing some leaves and branches off of her puffy pink windbreaker and making sure her sloth plush was well-groomed, she noticed the figure with black hair. "Ren! Elder said you stick with me! Stop wandering!"

"Ha ha! Gomen ne, Nora-chan. But too slow!"

"Not an excuse!"

"Um…" The curiosity-filled voice of Jaune stopped their arguing. "Hello?"

"HI!"

"Uwah!" Once more, he fell on his rump. This time, it was the new girl who helped him back onto his feet.

"Are you fine?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Good!" She gave him a small and friendly grin. The face she mad when she turned to the other girl (Jaune wasn't sure), however, was blank and indifferent. "Ren, say sorry." The one called Ren raised her hand up, keeping it flat and palm facing the side of her face, with a wide and toothy smile.

"Go-"

"Say in Central Vacuoan."

"Sorry!"

"It's fine…" Jaune was a bit unsure about the two kids in front of him. The one named Ren was very happy go-lucky it seemed; it was a bit too much for his personality. Meanwhile, that girl in pink seemed serious, despite the fact that she was the same age as him. He wasn't a big fan of that indifference. Any reservation was dashed the moment Ren took his hand and ran off with him towards a forest, screaming out 'We go play!' at the top of his lungs.  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? THE GRIMM!"

"Don't worry! There a big fence! No bad Grimm!"

"Ren, come back! Dad say there no fence today!" This stopped her from going any further than a small bush.

"Nani? No fence?" A small look of recognition dawned on Jaune's face.

"Oh, yeah. I guess that's gonna be one of my jobs now, huh?" He noticed a small look of confusion on all of their faces, from what looked like a six-year old in the throng of kids to Ren to that mature-looking girl in pink. "I'm gonna have to explain that, huh?" They nodded their heads (all with blank stares)  
"Okay. I'm from that big ship at the dock. The one with the lion on it. And, on the ship, me and some other people like to go around and help others by giving them things like cannons, cool swords, and super strong fences." He noticed the black-haired one looking at him with a smile and sparkling eyes.

"You go around and help people? That so cool! Like Lady Tor and Milan from Marvelous Comics!"

"Excuse me?"

"I think I forgot to give you my name. I'm Nora!" She held out her hand, expecting him to shake it. Tentatively, he grasped it, not expecting a grip that rivaled his in strength. "Heh heh, you are strong. And there is Ren. Say hi, Ren."

"HI!"

"Uwaah!" He fell flat on his ass once again.

"Ren, stop. You scare him!" Said individual looked at the blonde with curiosity available only to a child.

"You so strong. Why so scared?" Jaune could see the memories flash before his eyes.

"I'm not good at dealing with others…" For once, Jaune could see Ren drop her smile, and she stared at the blonde. Then, rather than a smile, she put on a wide grin, and tried to look cutely at Nora. Whatever sort of plot Ren was concocting, Nora accepted with a sigh.

"You lead; I'll have him follow. I don't want you to drag him." Ren shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine, fine…" But she grabbed Jaune's hands anyway, and pulled him with her towards an unknown location.

"Ren…"

"W-what're you doing NOW?" She turned to look at him with a bright cute smile.

"You say you not good with others? We make you good with others!" As she dragged him off, smiling like an idiot, a certain engineer watched them from behind a house.

"Hmm... I should prolly watch them more, but it seems as though he's in good hands... Oh well." Cracking his neck, he turned to see his friends fixing up the piles of machinery, and making them into something useful for the town. "Time t' get t' work!"

* * *

 **A/N: How was that chappie? Now, before anyone says anything, I know Ren is based off of Mulan and she's Chinese, and I know I made him speak Japanese. Just wanted to make that clear. Also, Iselan sounds similar to Iceland. Which one COULD argue is part of Scandinavia. Remember, COULD.**

 **Now, what awaits them in this winter wonderland? Will Jaune get the shock of his lifetime? Will there be any actual action this time? Will I ever git gud? Find out next time on DragonBall Z!... Wait I messed that up shit.**

 **Review or PM me please! Bye bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: WHAT'S CRACKING GUYS? And welcome to another crappy chapter of FullMetal Heart. Read it and not weep.**

 **NinjaFang1331: Why thank you, thank you very much**

 **Doy-sclaimer: If I owned RWBY, everyone would have their own personal giant mecha**

* * *

When it comes down to it, Iselan was breathtaking around this time of year. Not just the town, but in the natural beauties in and around it. For example, the village held a medium-sized waterfall near the factories, along with a lake and a clearing of grass (or snow) around it. It was far enough from them to be safe from any chemicals, but close enough so that the Grimm would definitely be seen by a worker. As such, it was a common playground for the children, especially when winter came to freeze the azure waters solid. The small lake below it became an ice rink, while the actual falls had been pouring down in such an angle that, in winter, it became a steep slide.

And at the bottom of that natural slide was a figure that would normally stand tall and imposingly. Well, either that or the figure would be shaking in his boots. But currently, he was trying his best from expelling the contents of his stomach after his turn on the icy decline. At his sides were two feminine figures, holding him up from underneath his armpits. One of them was a small ginger girl, face indifferent and taciturn. The other, with a black ponytail and a pink streak in her hair, was whooping and hollering, laughing at the current situation.

"Ja-Jaune san," he managed to utter between giggles of mirth, "You strong, but you belly weak!"

"Ren, stop teasing."

"It's… urk… fine, N-Nora." Said individual managed to straighten his back. Wiping sweat from his brow, he managed to give both of the feminine figures a thumbs up. "I think I'm okay now." At his declaration, the wild and impulsive Ren grabbed his hand, dragging him in the direction of a slope that lead to the top of the slide.

"Then we go again!"

"Ren, no. Don't wanna see him throw up."

"Okay," Smile not faltering, Ren stared at the icy sheet before them, kids and tots slipping and sliding on top of it. Still holding Jaune's hand, Ren jumped up and down, grin wide and cutesy, while pointing out at the ice. "Skating! Skating!" With a light blush, Jaune contemplated the idea.

"Um… okay?" He forgot to brace himself as Ren dragged him out to the ice. It wasn't enough to dislodge his joints, but it did put some strain on his metallic linkages.

Releasing himself from Jaune's hand, Ren bolted onto the rink, and instantly began skating like a pro, performing fast-paced leaps, bounds, and twirls. With a lesser level of flashiness, Nora skated on the ice, preferring to slowly glide at her own pace. Thinking to himself how easy it looked, Jaune placed one foot on the ice, and pushed with his other foot, propelling him across the ice like a master!

…Ok, he flat on his face on the first try. Getting back up, Jaune tried three more times, each time going nowhere and falling near the boundary of the ice. Hearing someone approach, he looked up to see Ren, hand extended.

"Help?"

"Thank you." Grabbing it, he pulled himself up. As he stood on the ice, he finally noticed something- he didn't wobble on the ice like he thought he would. Taking that as an indication of progress, he tried moving forward, only to fall on his face again. Wondering what was going on, Nora glided over, and decided to take a quick look at Jaune's boots.

"Ah, I see," Getting Jaune's attention, Nora pointed to his boots. "They the problem." Confused, Jaune removed his left boot, and began to look at its sole. Meanwhile, Nora took off her boot, and allowed him to compare the two pieces of equipment. Among the similarities, they both had wide bottoms for walking on the snow. Among the differences, Jaune's was studded with small hooks, whilst Nora's had a small metallic blade running along the underside of the sole.

"Oh, I see. Your boots have built-in skates, huh?" _I wonder if I can't ask the doctors to make me something like this…_

"Yes." Grabbing the footwear, she held them aloft for the blonde to see. "Wanna switch?" His face twisted into a bit of uncertainty.

"A-are you sure?" She nodded her head, and they swapped footwear. Now, when he tried to stand, he felt a bit wobbly. Feeling his legs shake, Jaune attempted to hold his balance. Since he was far too focused on trying to stand, He couldn't move forward. Sensing her work was needed, Ren stepped off the ice, walked behind Jaune, and gave him a hug from behind the back. Jaune could feel the heat in his cheeks. "R-Ren?"

"I wanna help!" And then, Ren pushed him in the back. Hard, as if she had no control over her strength. Forcing Jaune to skate from one end to the other, before tripping head-over-heels the instant his (err, Nora's) boots touched the white snow, making him form a snowball that crashed into a tree at the edge of the clearing. Picking himself up from the splintered remains of the evergreen, he was about to mutter something to himself before he stopped all action.

With his enhanced eyesight, he was able to see it. It was big, black, and covered in skeletal armor and ivory spikes. Jaune could make out the distinctly bear-like shape of the Ursa Major, a species of Grimm that was currently stalking the children from afar, waiting in the shadows of the snow-covered foliage for a time to strike. Concern and fear washed over Jaune- it was the second real Grimm he's faced ever since the destruction of his village.

No amount of papier-mâché masks or pre-recorded howls could ever match up to the real deal, especially considering the sense of dread natural Grimm exuded. But, what could Jaune do? Trying to warn others would cause a panic, inciting the bear to assault the rest of the children. And while he wasn't frozen, he shook uncontrollably; he wouldn't be able to fight like this. And his fight/flight response was just screaming at him to fly. What action could he take?

"Inaction, hmm?" He couldn't even whip his head to see the man right next to him. The same man who, aiming a bow and arrow, let the shaft fly loose, whizzing by the children at such extreme speeds that only two of them (sans Jaune) barely noticed that which pierced the Grimm's skull. As it dissolved into mist, Jaune slowly turned his head to face his mystery benefactor. He noted the green fur jacket, the pale skin, the long, salt-and-pepper ponytail and matching goatee and mustache, the jade bow with golden highlights, and a face that looked exactly like a more masculine version of Ren's. "You took the worst choice in this situation."

"Father!" Jaune wasn't the only one who noticed the man, as Ren and Nora ran over, Ren with arms wide open. With a bit of effort, the older being stooped down and picked up the other oriental-looking individual, twirling her around before hugging her close.

 _Wait, Father?_

"How is my Lotus?"

"Great! Me, Nora-chan, and Jaune-san were playing on ice! Ooh, and we saw you shoot the arrow! Nice shot, Father!" With a gentle smile, he patted the child on the head, and ruffled her hair. Nora walked up to him, and gave a little bow.

"Hello, Mr. Ren, Sir. How was your patrol?"

"Well, Nora, if you have to know, it was relatively peaceful… well, until now at least." His face became a bit more serious, and he turned his gaze upon the blonde still stuck in the splintered tree. "Now then, who are you? I have never seen a child such as yourself in town before."

"I, uh…"

"That Jaune!" With another cheery smile that sent red to Jaune's cheeks (which the male parental figure noticed), Ren pointed at him from behind her father's back. "He part of a big ship! He and other people travel town to town, helping people in need." The older figure began stroking his goatee.

"I see." He regarded the blonde boy before him. "He seems to be easily… intimidated." He turned to face his daughter. "Lie Ren, have you been playing well with this boy?"

"Yup!" Both of them nodded their heads.

"That sounds good," He eyed Jaune with a strange look, a mix of sternness and mirth. " _Son_." Despite having no fluid within his mouth, the cyborg managed to do a spit-take.

"Wait, you're a BOY?" With every ounce of willpower she had to not laugh, Nora Steeled her face into bored indifference. Ren Senior followed her soon after. For once, Ren Junior dropped her- I mean, his- smile, instead adopting a puzzled expression on his face.

"Yeah, why? What, you thought I a girl?" His eyes widened at the crimson face of his new buddy. "You thought I a girl!"

"Well, of course! You look like a girl, so I thought you were a girl!" He leapt off of his father body, before walking up to Jaune, his own face red from what's happening.

"I do not!"

"You do too!"

"I do not!"

"You do too!" Watching the two boys bicker and argue over his son's feminine appearance, Ren's father slowly shook his head. Nora joined him.

"This is the ninth time this has happened… Young Nora, do you believe there might be a tenth time?" The little ginger girl eyed her male friends, who were up in each other's faces. Actually, it was mostly Ren's face up against Jaune's while Jaune was trying to get Ren to back away.

"Yes. I think this may happen many more times."

* * *

"Fuwahh…" An afternoon had soon turned into dusk, which transitioned into a dark night. When the parents of the children had come to pick their little ones up, Jaune went with. At least, with them up until their doorframe, where they said their goodnights. Eventually, after waving bye to Ren and his mother (while still apologizing profusely), Jaune was left to walk the cold streets of town. Sure, it was uncomfortable for him, but at least there were still enough people about for him to have a sense of security.

Currently, he was leaning against the side of a wooden building, having stopped there to absorb a bit of excess heat. As he allowed his hands to create nice, warm friction, Jaune thought back to the events of that day, and any progress he made.

 _Well, I've got myself two people who I kinda like… But I wouldn't call them friend yet. The other kids are nice, but I didn't really interact much with them. I think I interacted with Ren's father more than anyone else other than Nora and Ren._ As he thought about the old man, the image of the Ursa popped into his mind. _Man, that was so scary! I almost wet myself there, and I wasn't even close! Well, at least I could move a bit. That's good!_

Having warmed himself up to sufficient levels, Jaune was about to walk back to the ship when he heard a very familiar voice from inside the building.

"Oye, Li Ren! ¿Cómo estás, hombre? [Hey, Li Ren! How ya doin, man?]"

"Ah, Lopez. It has been some time since I last saw you. If I remember right, the last time we met, all of your clothes had been burned off and you were wearing nothing but a barrel half full of fish! Ha ha ha!" Curiosity filling him, Jaue moved along the wall until he came in contact with a window. Peering inside, he saw the crew of the Hundredth Star, eating and drinking and having a grand time with various members of the village, including Ren's father.

"Well, Mr. Ren, as funny as it is hearing old and embarrassing stories about you and Lopez, I'd rather like to know how our crew's youngest member's day went." The man put down a bottle of sake.

"Young orphaned Jaune, correct? Well, he's become a friendly acquaintance of my son, Lie, and his friend, Nora, so it seems as though his mild social anxiety you told me about is slowly disappearing. If we were to talk about his problem with Grimm, then know that he hasn't been frozen in fear as you've mentioned in your messages." The man frowned. "Even so, he still isn't able to do much other than tremble or whimper- he didn't even attempt to run away, nor anything else that would be more beneficial."

"Well, at least the data presented here shows promise!" A haughty Robotnik (eating an egg salad of all things) gave a conceited look to Winry. "The treatment's showing signs of progress. Slow, for sure, but progress. Just think, a few more months and he just might be able to stand his ground against a Beowulf Omega." Said blonde girl pouted.

"I still don't think we should've installed so many weapons systems into his body." This caused a jade-green archer sitting nearby to raise an eyebrow.

"Installed? Weapons systems?" Li Ren turned to his old friend, guzzling tequila. "What does she mean? Is Jaune the secret project you mentioned in your message?"

"SÍ, hombre. [Yeah, man.]"

"I thought you found him in a dinghy, with a heavily damaged body that required extreme levels of prosthetics to keep alive! …Wait, did you give him weaponry when you gave him body parts?" Eggman shrugged.

"Pretty much, yes. However, Mr. Ren, you cannot look at us with those eyes without being called a hypocrite. After all, your own son's aura was awakened, as well as his ginger friend's, and as you mentioned sometime earlier, were you not teaching him how to fight with knives? Is the girl not learning how to swing a hammer that's around her size?"

"Ermm," His white-bearded colleague Dr. Light had a worried look on his face. "That doesn't excuse us for what we've done, Robotnik. Li's son is only learning to use a knife- Jaune has to learn how to use a copious amount of firearms and explosive equipment." From outside, Jaune held his chin in wonder.

 _Is it really that bad? I mean, me and Mister Simmons spent a lot of time testing and training with my guns, and I'm used to any loud noises and stuff… Wait, where is Mister Simmons? Oh, never mind, he's over there, sleeping on that tall lady's lap… why does he look so uncomfortable?_

"Listen, Dr. Robotnik. My son and his friend are training to become Huntsmen. Warriors. Not walking armories."

"Oye, oye, chicos, chicos! No comencemos una pelea. ¿Por qué no dejamos la conversación y empezamos una nueva, eh? [Hey, hey, guys, guys! Let's not start a fight. Why don't we just drop the conversation and start a new one, eh?]" They all complied, although there was a lot of grumbling involved. Franky decided to use this time to guzzle down a barrelful of rum… before he remembered something important. Doing a spittake, he slammed down the barrel, bringing attention to himself.

"Shiver me timbers! Blisterin' Barnacles! We were natterin' about 'im all this time, yet we forgot all about 'im!" He turned his gaze towards those present. "Has anyone seen Jaune?"

"Worry not about your charge. By this time, the children should be heading to their houses with their parents… well, the parents not preoccupied right now. I'm sure Jaune's walking outside with someone he can talk to." A certain Vacuoan gave the man a deadpan look.

"¿Qué tan borracho está usted ahora mismo que no va a ir a comprobar? [How drunk are you right now that you aren't going to go and check?]"

"I'll have you know, Lopez, that I'm perfectly not buzzed. As a matter of fact, I'm sober enough to see Jaune right outside there with my archer's eye. See?" They all turned around, looking at a blonde boy stuck outside in the cold, knocking on the window. Clambering the to the door, they grabbed the boy and dragged him inside, shielding him from the cold.

In the distance, a pair of binoculars scanned the town's taken-down fences.

* * *

 **A/N: Here you have it, another slow chapter done. Jaune's had another heart-stopping experience, but hey, he's getting better. And wow, he has a pair of buddies his age- improvement! But, will he be able to anything worthwhile in an actual fight?**

 **Anyways, please leave a review for me to read (PLEASE) or PM me any thoughts you have. Imma see you crazy sons of guns again next time, on FullMetal Heart.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Eyyyy ma readaazzz... wassup, yo? *dies from the cringe***

 **Ghost: Welcome to another crappy chapter about a boy mostly made of metal. Here it is for you to enjoy. Or not enjoy. that honestly depends.**

 **Now then, on to the reviews...**

 ***cricket chirp* *cricket chirp***

 **Oh come one guys, throw me a bone here. I want to read those reviews of yours! Don't leave me hanging here with nothing.**

 **Speaking of reading, here ya are!**

* * *

It was three days after their ship landed on the north-eastern shores of Sanus within the ice floes surrounding Iselan. By now, they had already started building up the defenses of the village; with help from the villages constructors and some adult volunteers, they were able to finish about an eight of the walls and cannons, and a little bit more of the extraneous items, such as improved heaters and food-storage units.

Currently, they were working in different groups. For example, Jaune and Doctor Robotnik were in charge of putting up walls along the south-southeastern edge of the village, cutting a little bit into the nearby forest. After showing Jaune how to set up the pylons for a fence that creates bars of plasma, Eggman hopped into a modified version of his Egg-o-matic, the Egg Walker, to help keep watch, making sure no wandering Grimm attempted to frighten the poor boy (although it was mostly his 'therapy' that scared the poor boy). But as the blonde worked, he didn't notice a presence sneaking up behind him.

"HI!"

"Uwahh!" Falling onto his rump, Jaune stared upwards at the sky. He didn't bother looking straight into the magenta eyes over him, since he's been subjected to this trick far too often within the past few days. "Hi, Ren."

"Jaune-san! Hello!" Helping his playmate up, Ren waved three or four more of the village children over. Emerging from the trees, they all crowded around the duo, wearing wide grins. Eggman, however, wasn't exactly grinning.

"Oi, runts! What're you doing here, huh?"

"Now, now," Also emerging from the trees leading to the village, there emerged a pair of villagers, one wearing orange and armed with a pair of magnums capable of firing high-quality fire dust, and the other cloaked in blue wielding a big rocket launcher loaded with top-notch thunder-dust shells; both of which were upgrades to their standard cannons and pistols, courtesy of the scientific crew. "Let the children be."

"Yeah! I mean, they, me, and Dex over the two guns, only want to help you guys out with building… whatever it is you're building, y'know?" This left the bald man confused.

"Eh? Help?"

"Yeah!" All at once, the children and the guy named Dex pulled out a few working hammers. "You help our village? We help you help our village!" With an enthusiastic cheer, the child volunteers all looked toward Jaune and Eggman.

"… Why are you looking at us like that?"

"Silly Jaune-san! We no know how to help. You teach us how." With a look of shock and slight fear, the blonde cyborg recoiled. Slowly, he turned to the bald engineer for some form of assistance. Noticing the boy's eyes on him, Dr. Robotnik took a glance at all the pylons Jaune had set up so far, before glaring back at him.

"Don't look at me, Jaune. I'm watching out for any sort of being that would wish to harm the village. I can't look after those runts and the forest at the same time. YOU teach them."

"Wha- wha- but… but…" He waved away the kid's worries.

"Stuff a sock in it, kid. If you can do it, you can explain it. Now then, go on and do it already. We're on a tight schedule." They held each other's gaze for a little while longer, before Jaune shakily turned his head towards the volunteers. With a gulp, he took a small shovel and a cable, and began his class.

"W-well, first we..."

* * *

"Hoo… hah…" With a grunt, Dex attached the last piece to the little piece of equipment he was working on. Looking around, on one side he saw a line of kids about ten feet away from each other, doing the same thing. On the other side, the line of defense they had all created. All that was left was to attach a power source to them, and some other science-y stuff he couldn't understand, like hacking the mainframe or something.

"Hey, man, need a bottle?" Seeing his blue-clad friend handing him a plastic water bottle, he greedily gulped it all down.

"Yo, Laver?"

"What, Dex?

"Do you ever wonder… why we're here?"

"Yeah, that's a real good ques-" A large tree, apparently launched their way, pounded into the ground right next to them, throwing up snow and dust from crushed machinery. "Gah, shit! Son of a bitch!" The kids around them stopped working. The Egg-walker rotated, turret pointed in the direction the giant lumber was launched from, cannon locked and loaded. Jaue and Ren paused, and looked towards two pairs of beady red eyes.

"Uh-oh. Um… Laver, you wanna take this one?"

"Oh yeah!" Taking his bazooka, he aimed his crosshairs at a point between each of the four eyes. "Suck it, ya filthy piece of- whoah!" The weapon had more kick than he imagined, throwing him to the ground. But as he watched the massive, electrically-charged shell fly through the air towards what were undoubtedly Grimm eyes, he couldn't help but give a smug grin. As the shell exploded in a large field of electricity, Jaune gave a sigh of relief.

That relief was shattered when another tree, this time larger and littered with discarded bone spikes, rammed right into the blue-and-orange duo. As Jaune watched droplets of red fall upon the once-pristine snow, the kids around him began to panic, and ran back towards the village. Meanwhile, Ren was trying his best to get the blonde to move as Doctor Eggman held his ground, blasting at a horde of Beowulves, the entire pack led not by an Alpha but something else entirely.

This thing… only it's lower body resembled an animal, and even then it was only vague. It looked like some sort of horse, except it had no skin whatsoever. Rather, it was a mass of black muscle and exposed bone, alongside a long and unruly line of smoke- yes, black smoke- running down its neck. From this distance, Jaune could also see the massive feet it dragged itself on- cloven hoofs as big as a restaurant platter, probably having enough force to squash a kid flat.

As for the upper body, it was even worse to look at. Like the bottom, it was an exposed mass of sinews and ligaments, veins and vessels. The skinny black waist was fused to the back of the horse-like bottom half, and it connected to a broad, muscular chest. This chest connected to long, skinny arms with absurdly thin hands and claws, digging long lines into the snow where it walked. Its face was shaped like an egg, an egg with red eyes, a red maw that looked like the lips were melted together, and a bone mask with large, spiraling horns.

On its back, alongside exposed spinal vertebrae, several broken weapons were embedded. It became clear to Jaune- this thing has hunted and killed many, many humans. Trembling with fear, Jaune could barely let out a squeak before, with adrenaline pounding in his head, his vocal chords rang out.

"Doctor! Doctor Robotnik!" With Ren holding him back and tears streaming from his eyes, Jaune reached his hand out for the man in the walker, not knowing what he was doing. "We need to get out of here! We have to-"

"Shield, Jaune!" Without even looking back, he could see the apprehensive face of the blonde. "Do you remember how to open up your shield?" With a blank expression, Jaune processed his words, before slamming his left fist into the ground.

"Lunam Clypeus!" Ren heard the shifting of gears and mechanisms, and was surprised to see the lower arm of the cyborg turning into a brilliantly white kite shield, a pair of golden, crossed-out, crescent moons painted on it. "I got it!"

"Good! Now, hold it close to you." Doing as he was told, he didn't see one of the walker's missile launchers swivel around and point at the snow at his feet. "Keep up that defense!" Eyeing the creature defiantly, Eggman's thumb hovered over a small, red, button. "Alright Jaune! See you later!" Pressing the button, he fired an explosive near the front of Jaune's shield, with the force of the explosion sending both the blonde and the black-haired boy flying backwards.

The doctor breathed a sigh of relief. "Now then," pressing a few times on his key board, multiple hatches opened up on the Egg Walker. Turrets, machine guns, and explosive artillery abound exited from the hatches. Each one of them had their muzzles pointed at the abomination in front of him, and the ever-growing horde of red-eyed creatures behind him. "It's time for a weapons test!"

* * *

"Ugh…"

"Hey, Ren? Ren?" Feeling someone shaking him, the lotus opened up his magenta eyes to see the blue orbs of his newest pal. And with it, he also saw a blurry image of orange behind him. But as his sight cleared, he could see that they were standing among a small group of broken trees, looking at the burning town of Iselan, medium-sized flying Grimm circling the city.

"Ahh… ahh… Jaune!" Grabbing his friend by the arms, Ren looked into his eyes. "We need to go! My family, Nora, they… they…" He slowly saw Jaune's eyes filling up with fear, and a desire to not go in there. But slowly, he could see specks of heroism, the desire to help others, sprinkle into his eyes. Holding back tears, he nodded his head, and the two of them ran towards the great bonfire.

As they got closer, they realized exactly how badly the town was being destroyed. Explosions brought down buildings as fire and brimstone, courtesy of raven-like Grimm called Nevermores that attacked power lines, ignited upon the houses' wooden frames. Said entities were flying about the skies, swooping down on unfortunate individuals. And as they attacked, people ran away in droves, heading towards their boats in the harbor as others protected them, shooting shells wildly before their gunfire was silenced.

As they entered the town proper, the second story to a house next to them exploded- it was Ren's, if the jade blade that embedded itself into the stone millimeters away from Jaune's pinky toe were any indication. Ren grabbed the blade, before staring at it intently, wondering what had happened before a realization hit him.

"Oh no, oh no, OH NO! MOM! MOOOOM!" Rushing into the rubble, the two found no trace of Ren's maternal figure. As they searched, however, the sound of pebbles being moved alerted them to a presence behind them: a sombrero-wearing man clad in brown and with a shotgun on hand.

"Jaune? Ren?" Looking up to the sky, the man accurately shot down a screeching Nevermore, before looking back to the two boys. "Go! Hundredth Star! Ustedes… run! Yo… [You two… run! I'll…]" With his gun, he imitated the noise of a firearm going off. "Los animals de Grimm. Ok?" The two of them looked at each other unsurely.

"But… my mom…"

"Señorita Ren? Ella… run… del Hundredth Star, Ok?" A beat passed. "Go!" Impatiently, he hurried them with the muzzle of his shotgun, forcing the two of them to run around town while he blasted away Nevermores. Dodging around collapsing infrastructure, they almost made it to the town square when something rather big and bulky crashed into a large statue, sending it to block their path. "Ay, Dios mio! [Oh my god!]" Jaune recognized the black, bulky, egg-shape that crashed into the stone statue.

Lo and behold, the Eggman shakily emerged from the wreckage, albeit with only half of his moustache, several scratches, and a bleeding forehead.

"Doctor!"

*cough* *cough* *hack* "I'm relatively fine, no need to worry about me. However," He pointed in the direction of the woods, where a line of falling trees was steadily dropping. "THAT thing is what we should worry about."

"Tiene piel dura? [It has hard skin?]"

"It has no skin, but yes, very. I threw every single piece of ammunition I had at it, and I even self-destructed the walker." He shook his head sadly. "No scratch at all. Before everything goes to hell, we need to leave this town behind and flee on the Star." Ren made a whimpering noise, but a raised hand stopped him. "There's enough space on board to house your town. Afterwards, we'll drop you off at the nearest port town. However," One of the giant Grimm crows fell to the ground, head obliterated. "Unless we run now, we won't survive!"

"But, Nora! Everyone! What about them?"

"We'll pick up whoever comes are way, so hurry up and get out of your village already!"

THUD! A heavy object fell on the ground nearby. Daring to look, Jaune felt his fear multiply tenfold. Right there, among the burning orange and choking grey, was the knight of death he saw earlier in the forest. He didn't notice Lopez signaling to the doctor, nor did he notice both himself and Ren being picked up. But he DID notice when Lopez walked calmly around the being, emptying his gun's magazine before hiding out in the Egg-o-matic. With its attention away from them and towards the black capsule, Jaune should've felt relief.

The fact that a single curved horn pierced right through it, with one end turning dark red, disputed that fact.

"NOOO!" Wriggling desperately in the man's grasp, the blonde tried his best to break free. But he couldn't. At least, not until a large black bird knocked the Eggman over, who dropped the kids in the process. Knocking his head against the ground, Jaune could make out a blurry mass of black cover the scientist. He could barely make out the words Eggman was shouting. But he could feel Ren grabbing him by the arm, and trying to drag him away from there. He couldn't put up much of a fight, what with the dizziness and all, but he tried. He tried to get back to the man, but eventually he went out of sight.

And that's when he felt Ren dropping him.

"NORA!"

"Huh?" Glancing about, the cyborg could see the ginger, small hammer in her hands, unconscious and laying in a precarious situation: the second floor of the building she was in was about to come down. And right next to her, trying to get her to wake up, was the black-haired lotus himself. "Ren!" Ridding himself of his wooziness, Jaune saw a support beam about to give out. Without a thought, his legs spun into action, propelling himself to the two longtime friends.

As the floor fell down, Jaune turned his hand into a shield, and held it above him, doing his best to hold up the part of the floor directly above the three while the rest of the rubble fell around them.

"Hmm… ugh… What going on?... Whoah!" She gasped when she realized the precarious position the three of them were in.

"Please… move… can't hold longer!" Quickly, the two friends scrambled out from underneath the rubble Jaune had lifted up. Dropping it ungracefully, the boy slumped to his knees, blonde mop of hair covering his tired and exhausted face. He sat like this for a while, listening as Ren explained what was going on to Nora. If there was one thing he thought he could be grateful for, it's that he hadn't seen the… thing… skewering Lopez.

A friend of his.

In the middle of a burning town.

By a Grimm.

As the memories came flooding back, the little boy trapped by steel came loose. Unlike that night, he was allowed to weep and sob openly. But despite how loud he was, Nora was well aware of her surroundings. And she could hear the nearby howl that signaled a pack of Beowulves.

"Jaune, me need to run. Jaune, we have to get out! Now!" Disturbed in his weeping, Jaune looked up, and saw a being of black fur and white bone, wolfish face snarling right at him. Instincts kicking into overdrive, Jaune leapt up, and grabbed the hands of his two companions before dashing in the opposite direction. Still, it was headed towards the boat, But that was before a bone-encrusted raven of terror emerged out of debris directly in front of them, cutting off their path. As more Grimm popped up, the three were herded into going only one possible direction: the forest.

"Jaune! Stop!"

"Get… to… boat!" His ears registered their words, but his brain was focused on only one thing- survival. Outrunning those that chased him and the people he was dragging with him. As he ran through the snowy woods, the trees became less and less bundled together. A salty sea breeze wafted into his nostril; Jaune was nearing the shoreline, and from there they could reach the Star.

But the sight that awaited them was no shore that merged with the beach. Instead, it was a glacial cliff, made of ice and snow, jutting out over the open ocean. Skidding to a stop near the edge, the three of them turned to face what was coming for them. A large conglomeration of black wolves, aided by a few flying ravens.

Huddling at the very tip, the three of them cried out, helpless eight and nine-year olds being subjected to the terror of the Grimm. But something peculiar was happening. The group split into two, a clear line going down the middle. The figure they could see was no doubt the cause.

Alphas were bigger than most of their pack. They were also more muscular, with bone spikes running down the sides of their arms. Their spine, ankles and shoulders also held bone spikes, and had specks of bone studs, like those on its shins. And the face was also more square-ish in nature, to accommodate the ivory mask that completely covered its face and ears.

This was larger than an alpha. This was more armored than an alpha. The face was the same, but now the entire body was more armored, and spikier. The joints on the body all had a large bone dagger, whereas the armor that encased its chest, groin, back, arms and legs, even the ears, was jagged and crooked, forming an uneven surface with spikes.

But that wasn't Jaune's focus. What stole his attention was the brilliant white plating that was scarred with a diagonal cut across the chest. It was a cut that looked recent. It was a cut that looked exactly like what Blanca Arc did to another white Beowulf before it jammed its claws through her chest.

Fear and irrationality spurning him on, with tears in his eyes the lad held out his right arm.

"Lunam Machaera!" From his arm, a graceful white broadsword emerged, temporarily amazing the two other kids behind him. With a shout of fear, Jaune slashed Beowulf's armored chest in a way that crossed his mother's line, becoming a large X on the beast's breast.

But yet it was not fazed by the attack, instead only grabbing Jaune's arm with the shield. Holding it, and the boy, aloft, the Grimm easily severed it off with a crunch from its powerful fangs.

The pain was unbearable and caused the blonde to black out.

Tossing the body and the arms to the ground in front of the other two, the wolf raised its foot and stomped on the ice before howling at the moon; a show of ferocity and power meant to demoralize and intimidate. That, evidenced from the wetness in the snow beneath the other two, worked. But what it also did was crack the ice. With quick thinking and precision, Ren, using his dagger as a nail and Nora, using her mallet as a mallet, they worked together and separated their ridge from the rest of the glacier, falling to the waves below.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, SHIT! That happened.**

 **Let me just say, the human psyche is something interesting. Too much fear can cause someone to panic and freeze, but even more fear than that gets the survival instinct up and running again. Oh my lord, was THAT an ordeal...**

 **So yeah. The three are trapped on an icefloe. Where are they going, where will they go? how far will they drift? What happened to the rest of the town and crew? Tune in next time for the next chapter of FullMetal Heart.**

 **But before that, please leave your reviews. Or your PMs. They're the things that keep me writing, they're the things I enjoy the most after publishing a chapter.**

 **And with that, I bid you adieu.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I'm here again, although with more low-quality laziness here.**

 **Madv77: *not-so-innocently* I don't know~**

 **So, who's ready to read a half-assed shitpost?**

* * *

 _Buildings burned behind them. Citizens screamed in pain and terror._

 _A red blade cut through the night._

" _JAAAAUUUNNEE!"_

" _Jaune!"_

" _J…un…"_

"…une…"

"…auuu…nnee…"

"…JAAAUUUUNNNEEEE…"

"Oh my- WAKE UP LAD!" *CLANG* "OW I CRACKED MY HAND!"

"Ugh…" Rubbing a cold, metallic hand on the back of his head, Jaune grunted and groaned as a killer migraine assaulted him. Eventually, the throbbing of his brain died down to the point he was able to make out his surroundings.

He was in a small dwelling, built mostly of wood. Looking at the ceiling, he could see that it was a mixture of animal skins, grasses and reeds, and more wood. The bed he was laying down on was right next to a bookshelf, which was next to a glass window, which faced a fireplace on the opposite side of the room. Connected to the fireplace was a small stove, which was connected to a kitchen counter, which was right next to a simple door. The floor was wooden with a big fur rug covering a good portion of it. Situated on the rug were a trio of chairs.

Sitting in one chair was a gruff man smoking a pipe with an annoyed look on his face and bandages over his left hand.

Standing to his left was an elderly elder, although if you only looked at his muscles and not his face you would think otherwise.

Sitting to the right of the old man was a familiar ginger-haired girl that was hugging a sloth doll in a vice-like grip whilst she slept.

And to HER right sat a familiar black-haired boy with pink eyes, also catching some z's. When Jaune spotted the metallic arm and attached shield in his hand, wires and metal bars and whatnot sticking out, he gasped before shooting his eyes to where that arm should be attached to. Instead, he only found (aside from a clear lack of grafted artificial skin) sparks and wires and metal bars, only barely sticking out from his shoulder area.

"Sorry lad. Ain't no one in the village smart enough to put it back." The gruff man with the injured hand just looked at Jaune, with only the smallest amounts of pity in his eyes. "Captain of the guard and village chief, Galon Wolfzbain. The old man next to me's Hugh, a fisherman who found you guys drifting on an ice floe." After taking a deep inhale of his pipe, he gestured to the two kids next to him. "They told me as much of the story as they could, ever since we found you lads three days back."

"Wa-agh!" As he moved to get Galon to explain to him what exactly he meant by the phrase 'three days back' he felt a sharp sting from his left shoulder.

"Yup. For the THREE DAYS you've been in a coma, even the slightest touch would cause your body to jerk in pain. I don't think you'll be able to make the trip until you heal or something."

"Wait a second… trip?"

"Aye." Getting up from the seat, Galon searched the bookshelf for a particular hardback, with a wolf tail on his behind swishing lazily as he did so. Finding what he wanted, he flipped through the pages, before holding it aloft in front of Jaune's face, allowing him to see the contents.

It was a map of Sanus, the continent they were on. More specifically, it was a map of the northernmost part of Sanus, featuring the big island of Vytal and the smaller islands around it.

"This here…" The wolf's finger hovered over an island surrounding Vytal. More specifically, it was a small dot on the map, with the word 'Iselan' over it. "Has been destroyed, and as such WE…" He then pointed to another dot, not far off but on a different island to the southeast. This one had the word 'Ankland' on it. "Can't contact it or any survivors. As such-"

"Our ship." He regarded the cyborg with a confused look. "The Hundredth Star. That's the name of the ship me and my friends came in when we came to Iselan in the first place. It should be able to get a scroll call." Nodding his head, the chief pulled out a small tablet, opened it up, unlocked it, and gave it to Jaune. Putting in the numbers, he allowed it to ring before he heard some words.

"THIS NUMBER IS UNAVAILABLE AT THE MOMENT. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER."

"I… I can't call them."

"Unfortunate. Either your water craft sunk, or whatever communications tower they had fell down during the Grimm raid." A certain blonde felt a swirl of emotions within his brain at those words. The first and foremost was fear- Wolfzbain could see this by the shaking and shivering. There was something else he could see within the boy, but it was something that he just couldn't make out…

"Anyway, back to what I was talking about." He pointed back at the map. "What your pals over here want to do is get on a boat and sail over to here," He moved his finger over a dot on the island of Vytal. "To Namandy, a port city with a direct road to the City of Vytal on the other side of the isle. You'll find the survivors, and your crew, in either town or city." With a small grunt of effort, the chieftain stood up, and so did the geezer next to him. Shaking the other two kids awake, the adults exited the room, leaving them to their own affairs.

"So… how are you two?" Nora regarded him curiously.

"How we? We look alright, right? So we're fine. And that is because of you."

"Me? What did I do?" Ren waved his arms around, clearly excited.

"What you do was AWESOME! So SUGOI! You went 'Raah! Swish-swish!' Beowulf go 'Aargh, raagh!"

"That right, Ren. If Jaune hadn't done what he did, we would not have gotten away. Thank you, Jaune!" Her face became happy before it became a bit more… somber. "But still, your arm… it look like it hurt greatly." The blonde gave a wistful look at his body.

"I guess that's a perk of having a body like… _this_." With his remaining hand, he gestured to his shining metal carapace. "While I can still feel, there isn't really a chance of me shutting down, or… being like my family… But it still has problems." He thought back to his time before Iselan, all the looks people gave him, the mothers showing him away from their kids if he ever went out without heavy clothing. "A lot of people don't like the way I look. People think I'm scary." Nora got close to him, a bright smile on her face.

"We don't think you look scary, Jaune. We think you look cool." As if he were a woodpecker Faunus, Ren nodded his head up and down. The metal man could feel something in his eyes.

"Wait, what? Y-you really mean what you said?" The two Iselanders looked at each other with curiosity.

"Well, yeah. We think you being you is cool. Don't all friends think like that?" The lad froze up. Something inside him snapped- from all of the memories of the past few months, he hasn't really had many that are good. But this one… oh god, this one made the dam break. They were the kindest and most heartful words he's ever heard since his mother and sister… people calling him their friend.

"Thank you… thwank you fwo cawing me yo fwiend!" With much emotion, Jaune allowed himself to cry. For a long while he wept, while Nora and Ren kept him comfort, rubbing and patting his warm, metal exterior. And, after weeping his soul out, the two stepped back as Jaune wiped the tears clean with his one arm.

That was until before he felt a point where the muscle-like steel of his limb changed into hard, mirror-esque cobalt. Slowly and curiously, Jaune moved it so he could the abnormality better. Not only could he see small sparks flying from his hand every few seconds, but he also saw that his sword was still unsheathed. Fearing that his friends would harm themselves, he tried to rescind it back into his appendage. But he got nothing except some stalled screeches.

"It doesn't work. I think my arm's broken?" Nora tried to give him a smile.

"Well, we ready for any Grimm we find. Yes, Ren?"

"Yup!"

*SlamJam!* "Oi, brats!" Kicking open the door, Chief Wolfzbain barged in, holding a load of herbs and mushrooms in his arms. "We won't have to wait until the blonde's ready to move after all!"

"So, lad, how's your arm?" Jaune, Ren, and Nora were sitting on a bench at the docks, waiting for the ship to take them to Namandy. The chief was right there next to him, smoking a pipe as he asked Jaune the question. "Feeling like sailing?"

* * *

"Mm –hmm." He looked at his stub, coated in greenish-blue bandages. "It doesn't hurt at all!"

"Of course it doesn't, that age-old remedy pretty much erases pain. If the stuff to make it weren't so rare, the people of this island could surely make a living off of it. I'm just surprised that it even worked on you and your… condition. Speaking of which," He looked oddly at the thick habit the boy was wearing. "Is that really necessary, lad?"

"These two may like it, but there's a bunch of other people who'd be creeped out. And, it lets me hide my sword." Nora placed a comforting hand on Jaune's.

"If you become a famous huntsman, maybe everyone will like you look!" Smiling at each other, a foghorn caught their attention, and the took sight of the large cruise ship coming to visit the Northern Islands of Vale. After letting it dock and unload, the three travelers boarded the boat, waving away at the gruff old man below.

Watching the craft sail away, the old Faunus's sensitive ears could pick up one last comment from the three.

"Thank you, you kind old man!"

"… If that's the kind of thanks I'm going to get, maybe me and Felicia shouldn't have kids." Turning around, he didn't see a fin poking out of the water behind the ship.

* * *

It had been over a day since they had departed from Ankland aboard the ship, and Jaune was feeling rather comfortable about it. The salty sea air was a nice little reminder that he was on his way to see his crew again, with the gentle rocking of the waves and the shine of the stars and moon overhead helping him feel at home on the deck of the ship.

The same could not be said for the ginger and the lotus holding barrels to their mouths behind him.

"C'mon, guys. Being on a boat isn't so bad, right?"

"But we get seasick easily…" Giggling, the boy led his friends to some seats on the deck, directly in line with the moonlight.

"Alright, just lay down here and close your eyes. I promise, you guys will feel better." Just as he said that, the vessel started rocking violently, throwing the occupants off balance and onto their faces.

"Wh-what's going on!" The speakers around them blared to life.

"AHEM, AHEM, HELLO? EVERYONE? YES, THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING. I'M SORRY FOR THE MINOR INCONVENIENCE, IT SEEMS WE HIT SOME ROUGH WAVES. PLEASE GO BACK TO YOUR CABINS AND TRY TO WEATHER OUT THE-" Once more, the boat started to rock violently, only this time the faint sounds of something impacting another thing could be heard on the boat. "LITTLE MOTHER- EVERYONE, PLEASE HEAD TO YOUR CABINS IMMEDIATELY AND- OH, WAIT ONE MOMENT." What came through the loudspeakers this time were a bunch of incomprehensible grunts and grumbles. "MM-HMM, YES, UM, WILL ANYONE WITH UNLOCKED AURA AND COMBAT ABILITY, LIKE A HUNTSMAN OR SOMETHING, COME TO THE DECK? THERE IS A… SITUTATION."

"Ugh… a situation? Can't it wait until our sickness is over?"

"No time, Nora. Look!" Looking at the spot Ren's finger was pointing to, Jaune felt his eyes go wide as he stared at was essentially a rather miniscule back fin on the back of a massive, black-scaled shark head with ivory plating around the head. The fins, such as the dorsal on top, the ones on the side, and the fins on the tail (alongside the tail itself) were comically smaller than the maw. However, said mouth was almost completely filled with teeth, the only spots free of pearly whites being a uvula and a tongue the size of a large man, and the orifice was easily capable of holding a car inside it.

It was also open. Very, VERY wide-open.

* * *

 **A/N: Whaaa? Another damn cliffhanger? Well shit.**

 **Please remember to leave a review please. I'll see you guys later!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hello again. Here is your requested chapter. Please enjoy and review.**

* * *

Jaune was scared, and was hiding within the oversized habit he wore to hide his metallic frame. Considering he was facing what was essentially a wall of dagger-like teeth, it wasn't that hard to see why. And, since the boat stopped moving and rocking, his friends were forced to focus on the Grimm before them, so of course they would share in his fear. Thing was, they had very different levels of fear. The hearts of the Iselandic duo were hammering in their chests, their eyes were wide, and they were very sweaty, yet they were still standing with their knees bent and shaking, hammer and dagger at the ready. As for Jaune, he was sweating, shaking, and trying to hide behind a funnel-like object with a box.

 _I-I think I've seen these things before. Can't I talk to the crew through these?_ He cleared his throat before he spoke into the funnel. "Please, we can't do this alone! Does this ship have any big guns or something? PLEASE?" After a moment of silence, Jaune felt a bit of idiocy sweep through him "I guess this only works in fiction…"

"*BZZT* UM, HELLO? KID THAT WAS TALKING TO US? SORRY, BU UH, WE ONLY HAVE EQUIPMENT TO DEAL WITH SMALLER GRIMM. WHY YOU ASKING?"

"W-well, any other hunters would've made it here by now, and the only people with me here are my friends, who're waiting for the first attack to be thrown… they're also kids like me."

"OKAY, SO WE'RE SCREWED OVER HUH? YEAH, **EVERYBODY HOLD ON! WE'RE TAKING EVASIVE ACTION**!" Jaune could feel the boat swerving away from the leviathan, alongside the feeling of his friends slamming into his body, knocking him over the railing and off the boat. Desperate to not be stuck in the water with THAT thing, he jabbed his sheathed blade into the side of the ship, but then he was stuck there, unsure of how to get back onto the deck.

Kicking his feet in the air, he felt a bit of pain when he stubbed his toe against the hull of the liner. Looking down, he saw that he made a dent. Thinking fast, he lifted his legs up to his chest before jamming them into the hull before dislodging his blade, straightening himself up, and stabbing it into the hull at a higher location. Repeating these actions, he was able to get back on the deck in time to see something big, wet and pink sailing past his head, before retreating to its source, leaving a stinging trail of wet slime across his left cheek, which also tore apart the hood of his habit.

He looked straight at the source- it was the giant, ebony-and-ivory, toothy Jaws of death, now complete with tentacles emerging from its maw, cruising along at an angle next to the ship. Turning his attention back onto the Iselanders, he could see Nora, covered in slime and torn clothes parrying away even more appendages with her mallet, while an equally roughed-up Ren was hiding behind Jaune's severed arm-shield, a sight which somewhat disturbed him.

Pulling himself back onto the ship, he scrambled back over to the tunnel, yelling into it more.

"Please! We need help! We can't do this alone! We need anything we can use to drive that thing away!"

"Urp! No work," Shuffling over to where Jaune was, Ren dropped his defense before beginning a conversation with the crew. "That Grimm is a B - urk! – Bakesame. Monster shark. Chase – gack! - prey until death!" Reacting quickly to a jab from one of the tentacles, Ren was quickly (and literally) dragged back into the fray when one of the offenders grabbed him, lifting him up into the air.

"Ren!" Remembering her father's training, Nora threw her hammer towards that particular tentacle. It hit its mark, causing the slimy thingy to drop her childhood friend, before he threw his dagger at a tentacle that was trying to pick her up. With a grunt of effort, the knife boy dodged to his right as a tentacle slammed into his spot, making a crack in the deck and bruising his leg.

"HEY, YO, BOYZ AND GURLZ! DIS BE DA SHIP'S GUNNA, AND WE GOT SUM FIAH-POWAH FO YOU!" As if on cue, a pair of turrets emerged from the sides of the ship, angled backwards, and began tearing into the armor of the monster shark.

"Wait, the guns are actually hurting it?! I thought that, since it was so big, the guns wouldn't really do anything…"

"Well, Jaune, it is still a baby shark. When it will get big, it will get hard." Jaune had to suppress a gulp at that.

 _Wait, so this thing… it can get even bigger? How many teeth would it have then?_

As the bullets shot into it, the monster let out a roar before waving around its tentacles at a faster rate. Rather than aiming at the morsels crawling along the deck, it decided to let out some steam by slamming its appendages directly against the hull, shaking the ship violently. As it rocked, Ren and Nora lost their footing, and slammed into each other. A stray tentacle then jarred their heads even more, knocking them slightly unconscious.

"R-Ren! Nora!"

"H-HEY! YOU GUYS UP THERE! WE AIN'T SURE HOW MUCH MORE THE SHIP CAN TAKE! BUT WE KNOW THAT SOON, SHE'LL BE SUNK, AND EVERYONE ON IT! DO SOMETHING!" It was true; with each tentacle smack, more and more cracking noises could be heard, and Jaune could even see the hull start to splinter. But, what could be done?

Ren and Nora, people who were brave enough to fight back for the last minute or so, were currently out of commission. The ships bullets dealt some damage, but the whipping the Bakesame gave the boat sounded, and felt, worse. The only one who could make a difference now was Jaune, but he was down an arm, and he was panicking too much to do anything substantial in this situation but worry. And he had a reason to; he didn't what he could do to help.

 _Aargh, with things like this, I'm only in the way! I can't fight that Grimm! I couldn't even properly fight a Beowulf, and I couldn't help my friends in their short fight… what am I able to do? What can I do?_

" _You can do a lot of things."_ Jaune took notice of his surroundings. Rather than on a damaged cruise liner, he saw that he was kneeling in a void of darkness, and no longer wearing the cloak that hid his body. Slowly, and warily, he rose up onto his feet, wondering to himself what exactly was going on?

As he gathered his thoughts, he couldn't help but notice a small ball of light drifting his way. Curiosity piqued, the cyborg stretched his hand out, finding that the fluorescent orb had no substance. Now even more interested, Jaune placed both hands into the sphere, fondling it and playing with it before a series of snorts and giggles made themselves known.

" _Hee hee, HA HA HA! Jaune, Jaune, lil bro, you gotta stop tickling me there."_ With great fear and surprise, Jaune fell backwards, at a loss as to what just transpired. But as he thought about what it said, som things began to come to light. For example, how it called him 'little brother', the greenish ccolor of the orb, and the voice… despite garbles and distortions, that voice was an old friend.

"Verde, is that you?"

" _Yuppers! Well, not exactly. I am Verde, except I'm a spirit."_

"Oh…" He looked towards the vast expense that was the 'ground'. "Okay…" They were left in silence for a while.

" _So, lil bro, why're you here? How come you ain't fighting that there Grimm?"_ He looked behind him, finding a still image of the floating cavern of tongues attacking the boat. _"Yer friends need ya, y'know. Ya gonna let them sink?"_

"I- B- No, it… I don't want that. But, what can I do? It's so big, and it's just throwing the ship around. How can I help? I haven't even properly my first Grimm… each time, it's ended with me almost dying in some way or another."

" _Still, yer alive. You managed to survive experiences that would've killed anyone yer age not once, not twice, but three times over! What was it that yer friend Winry said agin? Something about kicking off of a wall? Well, best time to do that's right now!"_ As she said that, all the darkness seemed to fade away in a blur.

And, after a second, he found himself back on the liner, fully cloaked, facing the still writhing beast. Taking his sister's words into hear, he still felt the initial fear and nervousness. But looking at his friends, lying there defenseless, he knew he had to do something. But he still asked himself, what could he do? He was only down to his one, short-range arm and his legs…

His legs. He forgot about his legs. And his abdominal chaingun.

 _Wait, actually, that would be just like the ship's guns. They wouldn't really work as well as something like the rockets in my legs._ Throwing away what remained of his cloak, he sat down on the floor and lifted up his left leg 90 degrees into the air. "L'RPG!" The knee bent sharply at, and as it did a small rod with what was possibly a trigger extended from the inside of the thigh, which Jaune carefully took hold of. A duo of rods emerged from the area between the thigh and the gluteus maximus, assuring he kept his balance. On the outside of the leg, a series of ventilation shafts opened up as his foot, minus the sole, moved… upwards from his point of view, revealing a hole in his leg. The part of the foot that moved suddenly split apart, forming a crude reticle for Jaune's eyes to follow.

He moved his leg around, hoping to aim a shot inside that huge mouth of Bakesame. He could feel the sweat produced from his last remaining sweat gland, noting the way they rolled down his forehead as he tried to line up the shot. However, it he was a bit too slow; showing some level of intelligence, the shark gathered all of its tentacles into one huge whip.

"OH SH- ALL PASSENGERS IN CABINS 1 TO 50, MOVE TO THE LEFT, EVERYONE ELSE, TO THE RIGHT! HURRY!" Jaune also decided to follow these smart instructions, since, with blinding speed, the tentacle whip smashed the liner into two halves. And, to his displeasure, Jaune was located on the side without Ren and Nora. He was also not on the side with an old man wearing a blue nautical suit, a white cap, and holding a megaphone.

"HELLO? THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING! PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THE BEDS ARE SPECIALLY MADE AND CAN BE USED AS FLOTATION DEVICES, SINCE OUR SHIPS ARE CURRENTLY SINKING AND I DOUBT ANYONE CAN MAKE IT TO THE LIFEBOATS. SO, **GO TO BED!** " With a sense of urgency, Jaune decided to fire off one piece of ammo before going to his friends. Opening up a small cabinet on his right leg, he grabbed an explosive, attached it to his left leg hole, and fired in the monster's general direction. Ignoring the explosion, screeching, and what looked like droplets of black ichor flying through the air, Jaune disengaged his weapon, before leaping onto the other half of the rapidly sinking boat.

Reaching his two allies, he tried to wake them up, yet their eyes refused to open. Thinking fast, he ran across that side of the ship, searching frantically for a lifeboat. Finding one, he picked it up, and carried it over to where Ren and Nora were. Moving their bodies into the water craft, he slid it off the boat. Seeing it land safely in the water, he jumped in after it. When he landed he rocked the boat, and then his friends decided to wake up.

"Ugh… what?"

"Ren! Nora! You're okay!"

"Jaune… what happen? My head hurt… oh no, sea-sickness again…" Drowning out their complaints, Jaune focused his eyes on his opponent. On its left side, he could make out a large, writhing wound, black ooze dripping from the area. Around the wound were burn marks, and as a matter of fact there were still small embers scattered throughout the monster's side. Putting out the flames by submerging beneath the waves, it surfaced again, eyes trained on a small blonde pest.

"Gulp!" Shifting his leg into RPG mode again and readying his ammo, he took careful aim at the beast.

It was a stare down, a battle of wills. Both of them waited for some sort of movement: blinking of the eyes, movement of an appendage, anything. And, to Jaune's relief, the thing moved first. The Bakesame gathered up all of its tentacles, forming a star-like shape around his mouth, with only a single opening. Taking his chance, Jaune fired.

He was rewarded with god-awful screeching and splattering of Grimm blood. Watching the beast slowly sink like the ship, Jaune almost let loose sighs and tears of relief. But they didn't come, as the monster shark's last act was to grab him, restraining his arms and legs, before they both disappeared under the waves.

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 **A/N: Thank you for reading this. Please leave a review please. I will see you all later.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I'm back with a new chapter- I mean, piece of crap. Weep a few tears, or cringe in disgust.**

 **mlgr2dpro: Good question. Here's the answer: yes. Actually, I would tell you, but I like to keep surprises on hand.**

 **Warning: implied sexual abuse. Bumping it up M rating.**

* * *

"Ugh…"

"Hey! He's awake!" Rubbing his aching head, Jaune shifted to the side, and tried to prop himself up using his other arm before remembering he was down to only one. He didn't really need to prop himself up anyways, as a pair of hands pushed him back down onto his moss-covered bed… come again?

Giving a cursory glance around him, he realized that he, Ren, Nora, 5 crewmembers, and 10 other passengers of that liner were resting on some sort of beach. There was moonlight out, so he couldn't exactly tell if the sand was white or not, nor could he see whether or not the water was crystal clear, what with it being night out. He did, though, realize the happy-yet-concerned faces of his friends, and the pitch-black color of the coat that surrounded his body.

Or, when the nine-ish year old took it off, lack thereof.

Rather than the muscular-for-a-child metallic frame he was used to seeing, he instead saw semi-melted alloys barely covering what was left of his internal organs. He could see the hinged pole the engineers had set up to be his spine, but it looked like his chest. As for his legs, he could only see a column of what looked like cooled-down lava, covering everything down to the sole; he was sure walking was going to be a pain now.

Still, at least his head and right arm were somewhat okay. He had a few bumps and bruises, but there was nothing substantial… except maybe for the strange, rusty-red thing on his sword.

" 'Ey, man, don' min' dat dere." Hearing this, Jaune saw a strange looking sailor walk into view. No, it wasn't the stereotypical handkerchief, all-white shirt, and the weird hat. It wasn't how tan his skin was. No, it was the seaweed like mass of hair trailing down his neck, and the freakishly long nose he had on his face. Next to him was another sailor, a deer Faunus if the antlers were anything to go by. "Yo! Name's Uso Blaak! Dis man 'ere, he's mah bro, Choppa."

"Um, Uso, do about that stain…"

"Choppa! Man, we already talked 'bout dis, man. Ain't nothin' we gotta say. Anyway," He turned back to Jaune, Nora, and Ren. "We gots ta thank y'all, man. If it weren't fo you, helpin' sum bruthaz out, we'd be gawn."

"It's n-n-no big de-dea-de-d-d-d-deal." The rest of them looked at him oddly. Nora fidgeted her hands a little, before questioning him.

"Um, Jaune? Why are you speaking funny?"

"Wh-wha-w-w-w-what do you m-m-m-m-m-mean?" As he said that, realization dawned on his face. Thinking for a minute, he closed his right eye, activating a HUD installed in his left eye. At the top right corner, just barely visible, he could make out a red icon of a battery that was mostly empty, with a glaring 1% right next to it.

"L-l-l-l-low battery. M-m-m-must… save… pow… rrrrr…" In a time as short as he was awake, Jaune slipped back into the world of unconsciousness, Nora catching him before he smacked his head against a rock or something else on the beach's sand.

"What? Come one, Jaune. Wake up. We're all sad here. And I the only way to be happy again is if we were to play!" The Valkyrie felt the hand of her oriental friend upon her shoulder.

"No worry, Nora. We play with the other kid! And us three can have some fun with sleeping Jaune! Like make him into a sand mermaid!" The two giggled to themselves at the very idea of covering Jaune in sand and shaping it into a mermaid's body. They left his body to find one of the passengers, the only other one their age to have washed up on the beach.

Watching them leave, the deer Faunus turned to face his friend.

"Hey, Uso. Is it really alright not to tell him about what the Captain tried to do to him?"

"Wha- 'course not, nigga! Nigga, we don' want dis kid 'ere to get, like, traumatized and shieeet."

"Come on! He deserves to know!"

"… Fine. We tellin'm 'bout what shit went down. When we meet his guardians, tho'. He'll need emotional support and shieeeet. After all, what kid. Can handle. Being told he killed a man, while 'e's asleep, when dat nigga tried ta do… dat while a kid's asleep. Fuck, man, I think dat would break'm, man."

"Yeah, I guess that's kinda true. Still, I wonder what sort of nightmare he had that would make him react that way to the Captain…"

* * *

" _Ugh… what is this?" When Jaune was dragged down beneath the depths, he expected one of two things: either he would get free and swim to the surface, or he'd wash up on some beach somewhere due to mysterious circumstances. He didn't think the Bakesame would put him into its mouth._

 _Another thing he didn't expect was where he ended up._

 _It was a small room, coated in dark-pink flesh and slime. He was essentially chained to the wall because of those weird tentacles, and it wasn't like he could move his arm or legs. Any of his other weapons systems were out, too, since an acid poured onto him and melted a bit of the metal. He hoped that he would be free once this thing dissolves, which should come soon… right?_

 _Well, in the time it had to live, it decided to milk out as many negative emotions as it could._

 _He heard screaming and kicking, before a blonde woman was also brought into the chamber. She was being held up by a single appendage, wrapped around her mouth, muffling whatever noise she made. Judging from the semi-melted clothes and her skinniness, she must have been there longer than Jaune was._

 _A group of the offenders grabbed onto her wrists and ankles, leaving her spread-eagled in the air. Another one, shaped like some sort of plastic bottle or water gun or something, appeared in front of her before squirting out a noxious, sickly-green bile all over her. Whatever clothes she had was gone, leaving her bare. That's when their shared nightmare started._

 _The boy tried desperately to look away, unwilling to watch the sight before him. Completely disregarding his feelings, a small set of tentacles forced open his eyes and pivoted his face to see the cruel act before him._

 _The monster shark was definitely milking out a ton of negative emotions from the woman and the cyborg. Fear for what was going to happen, sadness at what was happening, physical and mental pain. Something delicious that it didn't account for was anger. Not from the female, but from Jaune. Watching this scene made him remember what happened the night his town was attacked, both by Grimm and a group of bandits that had appeared before them._

 _They looted, slaughtered, and destroyed things without any disregard. But the thing they did that scarred Jaune the most was the utter violation of his family, which only he escaped. And that didn't include the sorry state they were left in when the Grimm invaded…_

 _Suddenly, he heard her cry, before something akin to smoke started being emitted from her body, and her skin started to melt off of her face. She was melting from the inside!_

 _That made the problem even worse, as he saw an image of his mother, face being burnt off by the bandits, superimposed on the woman._

 _Rather than letting the Bakesame continue its work on him, Jaune's rage fueled him. His aura surged, and he could feel his chest swelling with it._

 _He hadn't realized it, but the intense anger from the situation had made his aura control falter. A set of powerful batteries that made sure he didn't fall into a coma, providing him with energy and stamina to last through the day, installed directly next to his food processors, were flooded with the aura, causing them to release powerful amounts of energy. This energy was mostly heat energy, and was circulated throughout his body as if it were blood, melting the tentacles off of him alongside parts of his steely frame._

 _Jaune fell from the wall to the floor, with visible smoke being made from the contact between his feet and the dark-pink flesh of the creature's innards. But he didn't stop there, as the immense heat he was giving off got to him, negatively affecting his mind and causing him to take what he considered (and what probably was) the best course of action: Hack away at anything. The immense heat also caused his movement speed to ramp up, turning him into a burning, slashing whirlwind of steel._

 _Abandoning most of his inhibitions, the child cut his way through, turning the insides into sashimi, before actually bursting out of the belly of the beast into cold water. The cold began to suck the heat out of him, draining his Aura and energy and creating a huge amount of hot water around him. But that didn't stop the two pairs of hands that reached out to him, grabbing his own before he went unconscious._

* * *

He heard a beeping sound to the left of him, reminding him of his old alarm clock back home. As if in a trance, Jaune moved his left hand to put it on snooze, but instead he only felt glass and a few weird buttons before he realized something.

Opening his eyes wide, he stared at his reattached left hand, before his eyes wandered to his fixed right hand, and then he saw how his body looked relatively normal again, with the melted metal being gone and replaced by a familiar steely frame.

Removing a couple of medical-esque things from his chest area, Jaune got off of his bed, noting how light his new body was compared to the old one. Speaking of new, he scanned the room around him. The texture of the plaster walls was rough, and the floor was wooden and smooth, with a nice rug draped over it. He was looking at the bed he was laying in moments ago, the covers with blue stars and the pillows decorated with a cover that looked like some sort of comic book. Next to the machine was a heart monitor… well, he didn't exactly now what it was. It looked like a heart monitor, but it had a few extra lines and numbers to it. The room was illuminated by a simple lightbulb on the ceiling, and the sun shining through a glass pane. Looking outside, at the waves and the beach that came before them, he could tell he was in a cabin near the shore.

Preoccupied with his staring, he didn't notice the door behind him open. But he did hear the glass mug that shattered like a fine Mistralian vase.

Looking behind him was a familiar face, a friendly visage that normally scowls with its comically long nose and the crazy nose hair decorating it. It was also a face he didn't think he'd see again.

"D… Doctor Robotnik?"

"Jaune… You woke up! You've awo-OOF!" With a powerful tackle, Jaune knocked the air out of the scientist's lungs, while also keeping him from breathing in with a very tight hug. "Air… Air…"

"Sorry…" He didn't let go, but he did loosen his grip enough to let the poor man breathe.

"Thanks for that… brat." He said this with a smile. Jaune responded with a face full of questions.

"What, I mean how, I mean… What happened to you? I saw you getting attacked by that flock of Nevermore… wait, if you're alive, is Lopez okay? Ren and Nora, are they alright? What about others from Iselan? Is everyone else from the Hundredth Star alright?"

"Ohohoho, easy there Jaune, you just woke up. Now then, as for your questions, the entire crew of the Hundredth Star is relatively okay, although we do have a few scars… okay, I have scars from the Nevermore attack, but I'm fine. Lopez, however, was screwed up badly from the attack of that Grimm. We had to put him in a robotic life-support suit to try and keep him alive. The fact that I had a fajita thirty minutes ago means that it worked like a charm." This seemed to calm the boy down a little bit.

"And, the Iselanders?"

"Actually, before we talk about the Iselanders… where are we?" He asked this question in response to the towering skyscrapers he saw as he walked out of the hotel the crewmembers of the Hundredth Star were staying in.

"Ah, yes. Jaune, welcome… to Vytal!" With a flourish, he presented the nearby city to him, with futuristic skyscrapers, high-speed monorails, and bunch of airships flying in the sky. "Atlas is considered the center of technology. Mistral can be the capital of culture and arts. Vale s a symbol of strength, physical and mental. Vacuo is the crux of resources and the human will to survive. But I don't believe they can match up to Vytal, the place I call the center of Remnant itself!"

"You… really like this city, huh?"

"Of course. I was a major player in the Vytal Signs Grifball team." As they walked along a grassy park near the beach, they eventually came across a hill with a lone tree and a lone person. "Now, boy, keep quiet." Nodding his head to the old man, Jaune kept on walking until he saw who exactly was under the tree. It was Ren, crying softly to himself.

"Ren?"

"Yes. That is Ren. After the attack on Iselan, his father grew very ill from the wounds inflicted upon him. But he refused to die, saying that until he saw his son again and told him how much he loved him, he refused to pass away. And that's exactly what happened. We picked up a distress call from a beach near Namandy, found and picked you guys up, and immediately brought Ren to the hospital his father was in. They only exchanged a word or two before Li Ren lost his life. And every day for the past week, Ren has been visiting his grave, up on that hill, to mourn."

Hearing this story, Jaune felt something in his heart for his poor friend. He wanted to go over there, to try and give him a shoulder to lean on. But a pink blur beat him to it.

Jaune watched with curiosity as Nora of all people scaled the tree next to the grave. He watched her disappear into the leafy top, before emerging upside down, with a silly, yet teary, face on.

"While Ren's been moping, his friend has been coming every day to try and cheer him up, distract him from his troubles. Quite a sight, if you ask me." He crossed his arms, and nodded to himself before looking to see that his charge had gone off on his own, running straight for the grave.

"Ren! Nora!" He ran up to them before stopping to catch his breath in front of their eyes.

"Jaune's awake again!"

"J-Jaune…" Without warning, the blonde suddenly caught Ren in a powerful hug. "N-nani?!"

"I heard what happened about your father." Any struggling Ren was doing immediately ceased when he heard those words. "And I know how you must feel right now. But, know this: I went through what you're going through. I know how to help you out."

"Arigato, Jaune… But-"

"But nothing!" He grabbed his shoulders, and Jaune held Ren out at arm's length. "You guys helped me with all the recent things that were happening. I refuse to not do the same for you. As your friend, I refuse to let you go through this without a shoulder to cry on. Okay?" Both of the Iselanders looked at him with a bit of wide-eyed surprise, before smiling and locking him into a warm embrace.

"Okay." As they enjoyed the group hug, Ren narrowed his eyes, knowing neither Jaune nor Nora could see him right now. For some reason, despite the fact that HE was the one who should be taking deep revenge against the Grimm with a fury in his soul…

Why did he see a black flame burning within Jaune?

* * *

 **A/N: Hi again, you survived up to here. Time to go on the regularly scheduled hiatus time. And you must know what that means: The Arc six is coming back!**

 **Also... I'm not good with scheduling right now, and I'm just planning on something like this:**

 **Week one: A Broken Soul;**

 **Week two: Wings of Change;**

 **Week three: Fistful of Legacy; Monster Hun-err, Summoner!**

 **Week four: This one; Monster Hun-err, Summoner!**

 **Give or take a week or two, school's getting real busy now...**

 **Please review, see ya later!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hi guys! Been a while since I updated. I needed some time off to think about how to continue this... And it ended up with this 'meh' chapter. *Sigh* I kinda wanted to do more, but at the same time I was like, 'I just wanna get to a stopping point upload this already!' This wasn't taxing to write, I just... you know, what, let's just move on.**

 **MadFuckMotheringTeen: Hellsing Abridged much? Anyway, the answer to that question is: Yes.**

 **Xerzo LotCN: You know, there's a thing I wanna do with Jaune that involves the darkness within him. And while it's not exactly romance...**

 **yomunot: Okay, here you are.**

* * *

"Whoo! And that's ten points for Jaune!" A trio of adolescents were sitting on the deck of a boat. A pair of boys, one blonde with blue eyes and the other black-haired with magenta eyes, had their hands hanging over the railing of the ship. The last one, a blue-eyed ginger girl, was lounging around in a small chair, sunhat on her head and a pair of binoculars in her hand. Far away, in the water, cardboard cut-outs of wolves, bears, crows and scorpions floated along, each one with a couple of holes in them.

"Dual-wielding is kind of hard." The one with magenta eyes placed his pistols into their holsters at the back of his brown belt. With one of his sleeveless hands, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and wiped it on his khaki shorts.

"Well, trying to handle the recoil of both, plus trying to aim properly, is definitely a step up from just using one." The blonde offered his companion a bottle of water with one steel-grey hand. Imitating a Vacuoan gunslinger, he blew at the index finger of his other hand, which was in the shape of a gun but had a fingertip bent the wrong way. Well, not for him, as it simply bent back into a normal shape, concealing the hole within his finger. "Still, you almost beat me."

"Almost? Jaune, we have a difference of…" He turned to the girl. "What was it, Nora?"

"21 points."

"Hey, man, that's still close." Ren just scoffed.

"Yeah sure. At least I still have my superiority in close-quarters combat to ride one."

"Don't forget height!" Nora chimed in, while Jaune just pouted.

"Aw, no fair! You guys know I hate talking about that…" Watching the young'uns mess around from a window overlooking the deck of the Hundredth Star, Dr. Light smiled fondly. Sipping his cup of coffee, he walked over to a nearby fridge to grab a snack. Upon looking at a certain photo pinned to the fridge, he stopped. Gingerly, he took it off.

There they were, the crew of the Star. He, Winry, Oxblood, Lopez, Simmons and Franky, as the adults, stood in the back. Jaune, Ren, and Nora were crouched down in the front. The two from Iselan, after putting on bandannas and eye patches to mimic sailors (though they looked more like pirates), had their arms around the blonde cyborg and smiled brightly alongside he young Arc.

He could remember the faces of the Iselanders two years prior when Lie Ren told them he would be joining the crew, and when Nora had expressed her desire to go along too. The other kids were crying, parents were apprehensive, but the elders of the village had the most shocked looks of all. At first, they tried to convince them not to go. But, they soon relented.

When all was said and done, the two paid their respects at Li Ren's grave, boarded the boat, and sailed around with them.

They were major help. Being kids themselves, they could help Jaune reel in the children of wherever they visited, even convincing them to help out with the crew's projects. And there was no need to mention the positive effect they had on Jaune, keeping him protected, happy.

Helping him to grow… in everything but height. Will the boy even go through puberty? Light shook the thoughts from his head when he realized something.

All three wanted to be Hunters. That's something he knew from day one. What he realized was that they were reaching a limit in their growth. There's only so much cardboard cutouts could do, and they were all for ranged combat. Looking at the Huntsmen and Huntresses of today, all sorts of things could force warriors to a fight in close quarters.

He held his chin in his hand as he thought of what to do. Let's see, let's see…

"Sheila?" A monitor next to the window turned on, and a voice resounded from the speaker system.

"YES, DOCTOR LIGHT?"

"Can track the nearest active Hunter ID card?"

"YES DOCTOR LIGHT. TRACKING… BEEP! CARD LOCATED."

"Show me the location on the monitor." The screen changed into a map of Remnant before repeatedly zooming in… and in… and in… and stopped. A blue dot appeared where the Star was, and a red dot appeared on a small island to the ship's northeast. A black dotted line connected the two. A number appeared beside the line, reading 97 kilometres.

"Hmm… Patch…"

* * *

"Hey guys, look! There's our next stop!" As the shoreline of the island town grew ever larger, the three little crewmembers onboard looked excited. Well, Nora and Ren were. Seriously, one would think that Jaune would get over this 'meet new people' crap by now…

"I'm not scared of meeting new people! I'm just a little bit nervous! That's, like, a lesser form of being scared." Nora tapped his shoulder.

"Jaune, stop talking to yourself for a bit and get ready. We're about to dock." He gave her a small nod. Running and jumping into the small opening that led to the cargo hold, Jaune gave a small hi-five to Franky before he ran to his room. Opening up his closet, he began looking for clothes from a pile at the bottom.

"Sniff… smells too salty. Sniff… smells too fishy. Sniff… bleh, smells too much like a seagull! Better put this one in the wash. Now then… Ah! Here we go! Something to put on a good first impression!" He stared at a navy-blue leather coat, with golden cuffs and hems. Tossing it onto his bed, he picked out some jeans, a white, sleeveless undershirt, and some red-and-white sneakers. And, as was a habit for him by now, he grabbed a few patches of fake skin.

Throwing that all on him, he walked out of the room, feeling satisfied until he saw Ren and Nora's choice of dress. The oriental was wearing a simple green tank top with jeans and sneakers, while the girl looked more like a pirate. Black bandana on, white-and-blue striped top with a matching skirt, red sash on her waist, boots...

"Nora, what's with this obsession of yours with pirates right now?"

"Pirate? Yarr, I be a sailor!"

"N-No, that's clearly a pirate outfit. Anyways, I look at you two and feel one of two things- either I'm trying too hard, or I'm going to overheat."

"You have cooling fans."

"Still… I mean, with if someone hears me vibrating from the inside out?"

"Tell that person that the noise is coming from your scroll." The three of them ran down to the cargo hold, where Franky was opening the door to unload all the things they would be putting down.

"Ahoy! Yar, nice sailor garb ye 'ave thar, Nora." She stuck her tongue out at her two playmates. "Anyway, which o' ye scallywags wishes t' 'elp me wit' these here crates?" He didn't really need to ask, as the trio were already picking stuff up and moving them out. He looked at them fondly, like he was an uncle enjoying the sight of his nephews and niece.

He wasn't the only one staring, as some of Patch's youth wanted to go out and welcome to salty sea travellers. And they definitely had a sight to see when they saw them, each one carrying boxes that looked really heavy. Some of the older ones, however, looked a little miffed. Jaune, with his hearing, heard them mutter all sorts of things under their breaths. Little things, but filled with some spite, like, 'I could do better' and such.

Well, none of that fazed him. He's too used to other kids feeling jealous of him, Ren, and Nora. Seriously, most of the people their age that they meant couldn't lift this much, even with the magical soul-energy called Aura. To him, that just meant that they'd take longer to befriend. Speaking of friends, he was met face-to-face with someone.

It was a girl, with black hair and red highlights. She was wearing a cute little sundress, white with pink roses on it, and she looked kinda adorable in the hooded red cape she had on. She looked around nine years old. Of course, that meant that he was her height. That would've irked him a little bit, were it not for the shining silver eyes that completely captivated him. He found himself gazing at them, completely ignorant of what was around him. He even missed her introduction, until she waved a hand in his face.

"Excuse me? Hello?"

"Err, sorry, I was distracted by… something. What were you saying again?" She chuckled.

"You're funny! Well, I wanted to tell you that my name is Ruby Rose!" Ruby Rose, what a nice name. "What's your's?"

"Oh, I'm Jaune."

"Jaune…?" Oh bugger. It always ended up like this when meeting others. The cyborg knew it was always weird to introduce yourself with a last name, except he didn't think he could do that. Too many… memories…

"Nothing else. It's just Jaune."

"Huh, that's weird. But sounds cool, too!" Just then, someone else came into view, slinging her arm around Ruby's shoulder and giving the little girl a noogie.

"Aw, look at my lil' sister getting friends and stuff!" With some difficulty, Ruby was able to throw off her assaulter. It was a blonde girl with a ponytail, lilac eyes, a yellow t-shirt and some black shorts

"Yang!" With a pout on her face, she started to repeatedly hit this newcomer in the chest. "Don't do that! Its embarrassing…"

"Just proud my little sister's being assertive when normally she's really shy." She focused her attention on Jaune. "Sup! My name's Yang Xiao-Long. What's yours?"

"Jaune."

"Jaune!" With a free hand, Nora smacked his shoulder. "C'mon! I'm not against you making friend in a new place, but we gotta unload all this stuff, so hurry up!" Yang grabbed her attention.

"You guys need any help?"

"Pfft, we got this! But if you and your friends wanna help, we won't stop you." Yang looked absolutely fired up. Turning to the throng of kids that surrounded them, she rose up her right arm in a fist.

"Anyone who wants to show these guys they ain't special, say AYE!"

"AYE!" The crowd cheered back, and a dozen or so children stormed the cargo hold, grabbing crates. Many just ganged up and carried them in groups, but the older ones, like Yang, lifted them solo. As Yang walked by him with a smug smile, Jaune realized they were having a competition of sorts. Why, he didn't know. But he wouldn't be himself if he didn't accept their challenge.

"Ren, Nora! Double time!"

* * *

"Hah… Hah…" Yang collapsed onto the docks, sweating and panting profusely. Her tired condition was shared with people of various ages, ranging from a sweet little six-year old to her, that Nora girl, and, uh, what was his name again? Rem? Still, with a bite of admiration in her eyes, she looked at the one person who didn't even look tired.

Jaune. That new kid in town. From what her Uncle told her about the new trio of trainees he was going to get, she knew that they were gonna be somewhat physically impressive. But for the shorter blonde to outlast all of them in stamina, even when he carried all the heavy loads? Well, that was really amazing to her.

Speaking of amazing, it was amazingly cute to her how Ruby, on shaky legs, wobbled over to him.

"H-wha, wow Jaune, you did all that and you're not tired! Thas… that's cool."

"Yup." He flexed an arm in a jocular manner. "Built for endurance." Nobody noticed Nora and Ren sharing a look.

As the kids joked around, someone watched them from atop a hill, out of their sights and minds. Blinking his crimson eyes, he dragged a hand through his dusty grey hair and reached for something on his belt. Grasping a small flask, he opened it and took a gulp of the amber liquid inside. Sighing deeply, he loosened his grey dress coat a bit, barely regarding the figure behind him and his tattered, torn cape.

"Well?" They asked.

"You have poor taste, you know." He tossed the flask behind him. The long-nosed, egg-shaped figure caught it. "In alcohol, I mean. Seriously, a Pal-Wasser? Really?"

"Oh come on, I'm not much for drinks, like I heard YOU were." He looked below the man's belt. "Then again, I never realized you favored bottoms over tops, given your lack of them."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your lack of pants." … Huh. Guess that why it felt breezy.

"Must've forgotten to put them back on after the last time I transformed into a crow… Hang on, I think I could use these leaves as underwear." The man behind him began to stroke his moustache.

"I won't lie, those statements makes you sound drunk already." He ignored the small growl in the other man's throat. "So, Qrow Branwen, are you willing to train the three?" As the scruffy man eyed the children, he frowned. "… And also pout on some trousers?"

* * *

 **A/N: So yeah, we get to see lil' Yang and Ruby. And a bit of Drunkle Qrow, not that it's a GOOD bit. Still, what's going to happen next time? Probably a bit of relationship building, a bit of action, and hopefully some good stuff.**

 **Anyway, review or PM me, and I'll see ya later.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: There are three things that can potentially screw over authors: work/ school; writer's block; and a form of entertainment that has taken up much of their time. I, embarrassingly and frustratedly, have been afflicted by all three of these. And then I remembered I had this to do, and wrote up this crap...**

 **Halp meh ples.**

 **Xerzo LotCN: I got romance planned, but I plan to make the pairings a surprise. Nora now has TWO childhood friends, Ruby has met a living weapon, and Yang has found a pair of guys that are kinda cool (Jaune and Ren). And I have MANY more plans as to how they're going to spend the rest of puberty and their teenage years up until Beacon.**

 **Also, let it be known that Ren, Jaune, and Nora really only have each other to compare themselves to in terms of combat ability, so there's that. And I mean for people THEIR age group. Obviously, a pirate- I mean, SAILOR like Franky would have a bit more combat ability riding for him, and so would Ren's late Dad, Hanzo. I mean, Lie Li.**

 **Toby860: Yes!**

 **Ok, moving on to the story.**

* * *

"… But then how are you going carry it? It will be too big and hard to carry since most of the… heavy bits are at this end here."

"Oh, yeah! Teehee, I guess I did not remember that part. How I can use a mallet in a fight if I'm too tired from carrying it all the time?"

The birds chirped overhead as a trio of friends were sitting down around an oak stump. The crew had been on the island of Patch for a day-and-a-half now, and made great progress in their work. It wasn't like there was much to be done, however. Patch was situated really close to the mainland of Vale, the Kingdom, and also rather close to the Vale, the City. The City had a couple of schools in them that employed Hunters and Huntresses. Plus, Patch already had a pair of strong, veteran Hunters living on it, alongside the ones employed at the Signal Academy for Adolescent Hunters. If any Grimm were to attack, the people would definitely be safe. If there was too many Grimm, they could easily evacuate to the nearby City. So, what were they to do here?

Well, aside from the metal walls that needed a Lightning Dust upgrade, every good Hunter needed an upgrade or tune-up once in a while for their weapon. They could go to the city, but that would cost some money. If a team of scientists offer to do that for nothing more than food and raw material, well…

Many villages thought these guys had enough money for certain costs. The truth was different. Simmons and Wendy sewed their lab coats (and kids' clothes), Franky and Lopez cared for the ship, and Eggman was surprisingly good at trading items and haggling. Not only that, no workplace would lease out some of their brightest minds to go out on an adventure that could potentially kill them. No workplace would even fund them. Instead, they just pooled whatever resources they could gather, and any leftover Lien they could find was stored for emergencies.

That aside, they didn't offer their services for money. Not when there was the chance they'd run into a village that wouldn't be able to afford the new high-tech gear they'd give them. No, aside from the odd complaint from Robotnik, they did everything as a charitable work.

And, as it just so happened, that charitable work was off on a lunch break it could afford. While doing some exploring, Jaune and company found a rather nice group of trees on a hill. There was one large stump, and the trees that still stood offered just enough protection from the sun while not blocking an excellent view of the town, harbor, and sea. Add to the fact that it wasn't too far away from town, and the three had themselves a nice picnic spot.

It was also a good place for Nora to introduce to Jaune and Ren something she had been working on. As they ate from their lunch boxes, she placed a blueprint (well, it was more of a sheet of copy paper with amazing sketches) on the makeshift table. The paper showed personalized sledgehammer of her own, complete with the ability to cycle between dust types to imbue the head with various properties. It could also morph into a submachine gun, with the head acting as a drum magazine and the entire thing looking like it came from a mafia movie, capisce? But there was one problem: she initially didn't want to make it morph into a collapsible, easy-to-carry around mode. It was for some convoluted reason Jaune couldn't wrap his head around.

Now, as the trio discussed certain points about Nora's blueprint, not many could hear the barely audible and overly excited footfalls. Definitely, no one could hear the giddy giggles that came from a nearby bush as someone set their gaze upon the three.

There WAS one thing the three could definitely sense: someone was watching them. Ren noticed it first.

"Hmm…"

"Something wrong?"

"Can you all not feel that? There is something watching us." Jaune shrugged.

"Maybe it's a squirrel… no, wait, I can feel something. There's a lot of 'intent,' and it's all directed at us." Nora peered into the bushes. She could see some very faint movement from one of them.

"I see some… thing moving around in there."

"Well, let's make this easier on ourselves. Infrared eye!" A shimmer of light passed through Jaune's right eye, and the brilliant azure switched to a deep crimson.

From anyone else's point of view, that would be it. But from the teen's point of view, everything was different. It was all a mix of blues, purples, oranges and yellows and red and a bit of white. As his eye moved about, he got a nice picture of their surroundings: A squirrel-shaped light-orange blob on one tree, a vaguely raven-esque yellow blob soaring above them, and what appeared to be a small, red-orange human child hiding in the bushes.

* * *

To say young Ruby Rose was excited would be an understatement. She was utterly ecstatic about the new visitors the island was receiving. Don't get her wrong, everything on Patch was nice. But a kid like her? She needed excitement in her life, something besides sketching and watching her sister play with friends while she remained shy and inside. If not that, then running around the backyard, pushing her semblance to the limit or spinning around a wooden pole like it were a weapon or something.

Normally she wouldn't even dare to play with the other kids. But this group of people were special: they were new. They were children that did not know her. They were children she could start anew with, be friends with without any awkwardness between them because of embarrassing moments from her infancy and toddlerhood.

But she couldn't just go up to them and ask to be their friend. It was so simple, but she lacked the courage for such simplicity.

So, here she was. Hiding behind a bush, content on watching them. If only she could just hear what they said…

"Hey! You can come out! We don't bite!"

She froze up. _What? They heard me? They can see me? WHAT? Wait. They just said they wanted me to come out. Does that mean they want to be friends? Or are they secretly meanies that want to pick on little girls? Or what if they DO just wanna be friends, and I mess everything up? Like, what if I'm wearing the wrong clothes? What if I mess up my introduction? I'm not ready for this!_

As her mind raced at about 343 meters per second, or the speed of sound in dry air at a certain temperature, she saw that the trio decided to huddle together. She was far too preoccupied in her own nervousness to attempt to listen to their impromptu board meeting, and she only stiffened up more as that cool blonde boy from yesterday looked in her direction.

"Hey! Like, we're not going to pressure you to come over here or anything. We, well, I know meeting new people can be nervous. Look, just come out here whenever. We'll be waiting."

 _Umm… uh… Uhm… That's a… well, that's kinda nice to hear. I think I can go out now… as soon as my legs stop shaking._ Taking deep breaths to calm herself down, the little nine-year-old stepped out of the foliage, exposing herself to the three newcomers to the island. She waved her hand while slightly looking down at the ground

"… *gulp* Hi."

"Hell-OOO!" The older girl cried out in. The blonde kid and the one with black hair just gave her simple waves. Ruby kicked a little at the ground.

"… It's nice… to meet you all."

"I thought I saw someone that looked like you yesterday when we arrived at the dock?"

"Yeah… that was me." A bird cawed overhead as an awkward silence came over the group. Ruby blushed at how embarrassed she felt about the silence. Just when she was about to say something, she saw the blonde turn around, shuffling through some things, before pulling out- _Oh hey a cookie!_

"I don't know about you, but I'm kinda hungry. Want some food? I have more cookies than I can eat." At hearing he had more, Ruby's mouth began to drool a waterfall. She accepted the author, and sat down next to the blonde, nibbling on a cooking while the others smiled at her.

"Your hair…" She gave a confused grunt in reply to the black-haired kid's statement. "It looks pretty and cute, the way your hair fades into red. I like it!" Her face erupted in a crimson fury, and she pulled her cloak over her head. After a beat, she slowly lifted it a little.

"You really like it?"

"Definitely!" The older girl slid right next to her, and began to feel the fabric of her coat while Ruby froze up.

"Oh wow, it feels nice and soft. And the red is such a cool color, too!" Ruby's face became the same shade of crimson as her cape. She froze up with a small "squeak!"

"She's kinda cute when embarrassed, huh? Well, we should probably stop before you faint or something." He extended a hand, and a cookie. "My name is Jaune." The older girl gestured to the black-haired kid.

"He's Lie Ren! Ren is his first name." The boy named Ren gestured back.

"And she's Nora Valkyrie! Nora is HER first name." Ruby gave a shy little wave.

"I-I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose."

"Ruby…? Oh hey, we introduced ourselves to each other just yesterday! That's a pretty nice name, by the way." As Ruby gnawed on her cookie, she finally noticed the sheet of paper Nora placed on the oak-stump-table.

She stared at it, her gaze affixed. She was intrigued and slightly mesmerized. It wasn't at the art, no. Ruby could at least have some pride in how her sketches were less… cartoony, with more shading in and better pencilwork. Yes, the picture was cute, but crude. No, what drew Ruby to it was everything about it that spoke the phrase "feat of engineering."

Her eyes were attracted to the various drawings of the hammer; gun mode, melee mode, how it transformed. The dimensions and symbols, things she didn't necessarily understand, piqued her interest and jumped out of the page at her. She looked at it, and imagined all the various things it could do, painted a moving picture in her mind. Her imagination ran wild with thoughts of someone like, say, her, using the weapon in combat, bashing Beowulf skulls and assaulting them with Dust-based bullets.

Huh… she might have to try her hand at sketching something like this next time.

Nora beamed at her.

"It is so COOL, right? That is the design I want for when I am allowed to make my very own Hunter's weapon! Well, it is still a prototype, but it is definitely something I want to use."

"I don't know why," Ruby pouted a little. "But even in my family, or at the school I should be going to, I haven't seen something like this. Ummm… these are called blueprints, right?"

"Yup, these are blueprints. You know, Ruby," She focused her attention on Jaune. "You shouldn't be so worried about not having seen a blueprint or two before you met us."

"I shouldn't?"

"He's right," Lie- er, Ren- chimed in. "We have met several Hunters and Huntresses in our travels. They say, a blueprint or weapon schematic is something near and dear to them. It is not something that they just share with people, because Hunters and Huntresses don't want other people to have the same weapon as them. They put in the time, effort, blood, sweat and tears to make these unique symbols of themselves. It gets to the point that many Huntsman ask that their blueprints be burned when they die."

"Something… unique and special? Like Semblances, the powers unique to our own souls?"

"Yup! You hit the nail on the head!" Jaune started to rub his chin in thought. "Although, I'm confused. Shouldn't you have seen blueprints for buildings or other things before now? As a matter of fact, don't they have to teach you these things in school?"

"Nope! We learn weapon stuff and other Hunter stuff in Signal! I start going there once I hit 10 years old!"

"N-no, I mean the building blueprints and stuff."

"Still nope!" The trio of pubescent friends gave each other looks. They were each thinking the same exact thing.

 _What type of life has this girl had? … Wait, we've spent a lot of time living on boats and with super-smarty people. We don't get to say anything._

"Anyway, I think I'll sketch something like this later when I get back home!"

"Sketch?"

"Uh-huh! Wait here, I'll go get my sketchbook and show it to you guys!" After hopping off the little stump she was using as a makeshift stool, she got down low to the ground. Her hands were touching the earth, one foot was more behind the other, one was bent, and she had the most adorable pout of pure concentration on her face.

The trio didn't actually think that she was going to run all the way to her house. They didn't know where she lived, but they did know that the village was a bit of a run from their current location, close as it was. Why would they let a little girl run such a distance, back-and-forth?

They were about to stop her when she bolted towards the village at breakneck speeds, leaving ephemeral rose petals in her wake.

Reaching her house, she stood on her tippy toes and rang the doorbell. She waited for a minute before deciding that nobody was home. Maybe her dad and her uncle were socializing with some of the people that came with Jaune, Lie,- wait, they said REN was his first name, not Lie- and Nora. She could hear her sister and her sister's friends being entertained by that big, muscle-bound sailor with the weird pirate speech, probably either playing a sea shanty or telling them a story. Judging by the laughter, probably the latter. Oh well.

She removed the doormat, then she removed the little piece of wood underneath the doormat. Underneath was a tiny alcove containing a silver key to the house. She went inside, ran upstairs, and grabbed her notebook before making her way outside. She would've, at least, had a little black-and-white Corgi puppy not stopped her from going out.

"Hi Zwei!" It hopped up and down right in front of her, gnawing on a small leash in its mouth. She stooped down and pet its head. "You wanna go for a run? Wanna go for a run?" Widdle doggie wanna run?" _But I can't carry both Zwei AND my sketchbook… OH!_ "Okay, I'll let you walk, BUT," She presented the book of sketches to the dog. "Can carry this while I carry you?"

YIP!

"Good boy!" Zwei sucked on his lips and tounge, gathering as much slobber as he could before he spat it out outside, making his mouth dry enough that he could carry the book without much problem. Grasping the leash and hefting the dog into her arms, she stumbled forward. Managing to lock the house door and hide the key (why didn't she do that first?), Ruby activated her super-speed and rushed back to her peers. Ren looked astonished.

"That is SO cool! You are young, but you already have a Semblance!"

"She's not THAT much younger than us, Renny. Don't worry, we will get our semblances soon. OOH, A PUPPY!" Jaune tuned the two out, alongside the barking pp, in favor of looking over Ruby's shoulder at the sketches.

They were beautiful for a girl her age. Yes, the shades of grey pencil streaking across a white, blank canvas was bland. But that was only if one disregarded the actual design, the full picture as it were. They ranged from realistic to cartoonish, covering a wide variety of roses, dogs and cats, nature at its finest.

 _Good at sketching what she sees, but…_ "It doesn't look like you have a lot of imagination, huh, Ruby?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I'm flipping through your book, which is filled with gorgeous sketches by the way, but they're all things I wouldn't be surprised to see around Patch." The girl started to kick the ground.

"I know… but it's hard to draw something I can't actually touch or see." She was blindsided by a hug from Nora.

"Well, we are still on our little lunch break, and you did say you wanted to make a blueprint or something. How about… we bring you to the ship's armory and give your imagination a head start?"

"Yay! Besides, I need to take Zwei for a walk anyway."

"So your name is Zwei, huh? Well, I am Nora!" As the four of them walked down to the docks, a passerby crow looked down at them, seemingly grinning with its ebony beak.

* * *

 **A/N: Whelp, that's done with. Now, how about _I_ go on a walk, read some more fics, anything to inspire MY imagination so that hopefully the next Chapter will be better.**

 **Please review, please PM me, and I'll see y'all later.**


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